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AN 

ESSAY 

ON- 

THE IDENTITY 

AND 

GENERAL RESURRECTION 

OF THE 

HUMAN BODY: 

IN WHICH 

THE EVIDENCES 

IN FAVOUR OF THESE IMPORTANT StJBJECTS 
' ARE CONSIDERED, 

IN 

Eelatfan Botti to Pftflosapftp anO g^cripture. 

BY SAMUEL DREW, "^^ 

AUTHOU OF 

AN ESSAY ON THE IMMATERIALITY AND IMMORTALITY 

OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 

" Why should it be thought with yqu a thing incredible that GOD should raise the 
dead.'" St. Paul, ^c;* xxvi. ». 



BROOKLYN: 

PRINTED BY THOMAS KIRKj 
rOK THE PUBLISHER, 

1811. 



\ 



ADDRESS 



TO 



THE READER. 



w 



HEN a Book on an abstruse and important 
subject is offered to the world, the situation of its 
Author, if in humble life, rarely fails to excite 
attention. Under these circumstances, it is much 
easier for him to awaken curiosity, than to gratify 
it. But it is always in his power to satisfy the 
reasonable inquiries of those, who feel solicitous 
to know something of the person who thus pub- 
licly introduces himself to their notice. 

Curiosity is natural to the mind of man ; and, 
when confined within proper limits, it has a bene- 
ficial tendency. It seeks, indeed, for gratification 
from various quarters ; but it is not very fastidious 
W' hence or how it is obtained. It generally fixes 
upon extremes ; upon the great, and upon the lit- 
tle ; — and, as it respects authors, upon the giants, 
and upon the dwarfs in literary pretensions. On 
. these accounts, it is not necessarily a flattering com- 
pliment to become an object of its pursuit. 



iv ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

The life and studies of the learned author, 
whom a liberal education — uninterrupted leisure— 
and acknowledged abilities, have raised to the chair 
of science, and invested v/ith a degree of authority 
to impart instruction, are subjects well deserving 
the attention of the biographer. But curiosity 
frequently wishes to know something also con- 
cerning those, who, in humble life, have been 
brought up in no school but that of nature ; 
and who, in opposition to difficulties and discou- 
ragements, come forward and offer to the w^orld, 
the fruits of their labour in the field of literature. 
It is a region in which they seem to be intruders, 
and where they professedly undertake investiga- 
tions, which their confined means of knowledge^ 
and unpromising powers, appear inadequate to 
perform, 

Metaphysical researches are so far removed from 
manual labour and humble life, that many have 
expressed their surprize that they should ever 
have been united. Hence, as it respects myself, 
the question has repeatedly been asked, — *'What 
circumstances led to so unlikely an association ?" 
The replies which this question naturally produced, 
induced several of my friends, in whose judgments 
I feel a strong confidence, and to whose good 
offices I stand indebted, to communicate their opi- 
nions, that it would afford some gratification to a 
great pumber of those, whose names are affixed t« 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. r 

this work, if I would trace those incidents of my 
life, which gradually led to such an unlocked for 
event. 

When their wishes were first expressed, I shrunk 
back from the suggestion, not only through an ap- 
prehension thai 1 should incur the charge of vani- 
ty ; but, especially, as on a review of my life, I saw 
nothing remarkable which was worthy of record. 
On this ground, I declined to comply with their de- 
sires. The renewed solicitations of these friends, 
soon, however, assumed the shape and tone of a re- 
quest. And, consistently with that debt of grati- 
tude which I owed them, I found it impossible to 
withhold a compliance without subjecting myself to 
the charge of being influenced by a passion nearly 
allied to that vanity, the imputation of which I 
dreaded to incur. This circumstance inclined me 
to alter my prior resolution. 

In thus submitting to their importunities, I am 
furnished with an opportunity of apologizing for 
those imperfections, which, without doubt are in- 
cluded in my w^ork ; and of placing the disinterest- 
edness and generosity of my Subscribers in a con- 
spicuous light, by briefly declaring to the world on 
whom it has been bestowed. The little narrative 
may probably afford some encouragement to 
others ; who, poor and unknown, may at this mo- 
ment be struggling with adversity, and attempting 



Vi ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

to emerge from obscurity. It will add another exam- 
ple to muny, which may be adduced, and thereby 
assure them, that in this comparatively happy coun- 
try, poverty and the want of education, are no ob- 
stacles to patronage and support. On one account 
I gladly embrace the occasion which is now afford- 
ed me. It is that of recording the obligations 
which I owe to a man of eminent character and 
abilities, who is now no more, but whose memory I 
hope, 1 shall never cease to respect and revere. 

By this plain statement, I feel a hope that I 
shall secure myself from the censures of the can- 
did and liberal minded ; they will enter into my 
views, and place a proper estimate on my motives. 
With the envious and the malevolent, I cannot 
expect the same success. For I no more flatter 
myself with the thought that I can escape their 
detraction, than with the expectation that I can 
cure them of those passions, which must give 
greater pain to such as cherish them, than it is in 
their power to inflict on others. My narrative 
which follows, is little more than the simple 
monotony of humble life. But on these ac- 
counts, 

" Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 
« Tlieir humble joys and destiny obscure, 
« Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile, 
" The short and simple annuls of the poor." 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. vii 

I was born in the parish of St. Austell, in the 
county of Cornwall, on the third day of March, 
1765. My father, who was a labouring man, sup- 
ported his family, which consisted of a wife and four 
children, in creditable poverty, by dint of applica- 
tion, industry, and frugality. But though neither 
of my parents was ignorant of the importance of 
education, such were their circumstances that it 
was not in their power to afford me any, except 
that acquired at a little reading-school, in which I 
merely learned the knowledge of my letters. Here 
my education ended, for to a writing- school I never 
was promoted. 

At the age of seven, I was obliged to go to work, 
and for my labour, my parents received two pence 
pt r day. The next year I had the misfortune to 
lose my mother, and many a time since- — 

This throbbing breast has heav'd the heartfelt sigh, 
And breath'd afflictions where her ashes lie. 

Soon after this, my father removed into another 
neighbourhood ; and at the age of ten years and a 
half, I was bound an apprentice to a shoemaker, in 
the parish of St. Blazey. 

Prior to this time I acquired some knowledge of 
writing, but it amounted to little more than merely 
to know how to make the letters of the alphabet, 
and to write my name. And this knowledge, scan- 
ty as it ^vas, I nearly lost during my apprentice- 



viii ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

ship ; but towards the latter years of the term, I 
made some progress in my reading. This I attri- 
bute chiefly to the opportunity which I then had of 
perusing the Weekly Entertainer, published by 
Messrs. Goadby and Co. of Sherborne. In these 
miscellanies, such narratives as were affecting, and 
such anecdotes as were pointed, were the principal 
objects which attracted my notice. And among 
these, nothing excited my attention, so much as 
the adventures, vicissitudes, and disasters, to which 
the American war gave rise. 

On quitting my master, I procured employment 
in the vicinity of Plymouth. Here, the necessity 
of earning my o\vn livelihood engrossed all my at- 
tention : so that the same cause which removed me 
from perusing the Weekly Miscellany, nearly 
quenched all my desires after further knowledge. 
After labouring in this neighbourhood about four 
years, I returned to St. Austell, to which place I 
was attracted by the advance of wages. In this 
town it was my lot to conduct the shoemaking bu- 
siness for a man who is now in America : he was 
an eccentric character, but by no means destitute of 
understanding. His original occupation was that 
of a saddler, and through his own application he had 
obtained some knowledge of bookbinding. To 
these employments he superadded the manufacture 
of shoes, and in one shop carried on these three 
trades together. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER, ix 

In this situation, I found myself surrounded 
by books of various descriptions, and felt my taste 
for the acquirement of information return with re- 
newed vigour, and increase in proportion to the 
means of indulgence, which were now placed fully 
within my reach. But here some new difficulties 
occurred, with which I found it painful to grapple. 
My knowledge of the import of words was as con- 
tracted, as my ideas were scanty ; so that I found 
it necessary to keep a dictionary continually by my 
side whilst I was reading, to which I was compel- 
led constantly to refer. This was a tedious process. 
But in a little time the difficulty wore away, and my 
horizon of knowledge became enlarged. 

Among other books which were brought to be 
bound, it happened that Mr. Locke's Essay on the 
Human Understanding made its appearance, o This 
was a work of which I had never heard. I occasion- 
ally opened the volumes, and read a few pages, but 
rather with amazement than satisfaction ; and from 
that moment began to reflect on the intellectual 
powers of man. In doing this, I could not but draw 
a contrast between my own mental condition and 
that of others. This awakened rrie from my stu- 
por, and induced me to form a resolution to aban- 
don the grovelling views which I had been accus- 
tomed to entertain of things, and to quit the prac- 
tices of my old associates. 



X ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

Soon after this, I engaged in business for my- 
self, when the pressure of trade, and pecuniary em- 
barrassments, retarded my progress in mental ac- 
quirements, but stimulated my endeavours to 
emerge from ignorance. By unremitting industry, 
I at length surmounted such obstacles as were of a 
pecuniary nature : this enabled me to procure as- 
sistance in my labours, and afforded me the com- 
mon relaxation which others enjoyed. This was 
the only leisure at which I aimed. In this situa- 
tion, I felt an internal vigour prompting me to ex- 
ertions, but I was unable to determine what direc- 
tion I should take. The sciences lay before me. 
I discovered charms in each, but I was unable to 
embrace them all, and hesitated in making a selec- 
tion» I had learned that 

" One science only would one genius fit, 
« So vast is art, so narrow human wit.'* 

At first I felt such an attachment to astronomy, that 
I resolved to confine my views to the study of that 
science ; but I soon found myself too defective in 
arithmetic to make any proficiency. Modern his- 
tory was my next object ; but I quickly discovered 
that more books and time were necessary than I 
could possibly either afford or spare, and on this 
account history was abandoned. In the region of 
metaphysics I saw neither of the above impedi- 
ments. It nevertheless appeared to be a thorny 



ADDRESS TO THE READER, xi 

path, b^it I determined to enter, and accordingly 
began to tread it. 

During several years, all my leisure hours were 
devoted to reading : but I do not recollect that it 
ever interrupted my business, though it frequently 
broke in upon my rest. On my labour depended 
my livelihood. Literary pursuits were only my 
amusement. Common prudence had taught me the 
lesson which the following sentences so happily con- 
vey. " Secure to yourself a livelihood indepen- 
dently of literary successes, and put into this lottery 
only the overplus of time. Woe to him who de- 
pends wholly on his pen ; nothing is more casual. 
The man who makes shoes is sure of his wagts, 
the man who writes a book is never sure of any 
thing." MarmonteL 

Nothing, however, amidst the various subjects 
which engrossed my thoughts could be more remote 
from my views and intentions than that of commen- 
cing author. But this improbable event was occa* 
sioned by the following incident. When Mr. Tho- 
mas Payne published his *' Age of Reason," it un- 
happily made too many converts. Among these 
was a young gentleman of good natural talents 
which had been improved by a liberal education, 
who frequently visited my shop. He enquired one 



xii ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

day, whether I had ever seen this pamphlet ? and on 
finding that I had not, he put it into my hands on 
condition that I should read it through, and finally 
give him my opinion on the doctrines which it in- 
culcated. This 1 promised to do ; and occasion- 
ally wrote down such remarks as occurred during 
my reading of the work, and such as I could recol- 
lect to have made in the numerous conversations 
with him to which this incident gave rise. The 
young man is now in internity. But I am happy to 
state, that, prior to his illness, he acknowledged 
that the design which he had in view in putting the 
*^ Age of Reason" into my hands, was to proselyte 
me to its principles ; but that having failed in pro- 
ducing that effect, he had been induced first to 
suspect their validity, and then to abandon them al- 
together. These • ' Remarks on the Age of Rea^ 
son," I revised as well as I was able, and after- 
%vards, with some additions, published them to the 
%vorld in 1799. This was done with a design that 
the " Remarks might produce in others, effects simi- 
lar to those which had already resulted from them." 

It was this pamphlet which first excited the no- 
tice of my greatly respected and much lamented 
friend, the late Rev. John Whitaker, who, from 
principles of benevolence, rather than a discovery 
of merit, was pleased to recommend it to the notice 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. xiii 

of the Antijacobin Review. In this literary jour- 
nal, the reviewers permitted the laudableness of the 
attempt to outweigh the imperfections of the per- 
formance, and spoke of it in terms which have 
made me their debtor. I shall be happy if the pre- 
sent work pass with safety, through the ordeal of 
liberal and candid criticism. 

In the two following years, I published three or 
four pamphlets, but these being on local and con- 
troversial subjects, disappeared with the occasions 
which gave them birth. In 1802, I published 
<' An Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality 
of the Human Soul," the occasions of which I have 
briefly hinted in the following preface. The ap- 
probation with which it has been countenanced has 
in some measure stimulated me to undertake and 
accomplish the present work. And probably the 
manner in which this will be received, will not be 
without its influence on my future labours. 

On a perusal of this plain and unvarnished tale, 
it must be obvious to all, that I stand indebted to 
Mr. Whitaker for my literary existence, by his 
publicly avowing himself my friend, at a moment 
when recommendation, or a want of it, must have 
finally determined my fate. I was then in a critical 
situation, insomuch that a single dash of his pen 



xiv ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

might have doomed me to perpetual silence and ob- 
scurity, and made me feel an aversion from those 
studies in which before I had so ardently delighted. 
Such are the incidents on which the destinies of 
life depend ! Fortunately my probationary pam- 
phlet fell into the liands of a gentleman, whose ex- 
alted rank in the literary world, raised him above 
popular prejudices, and enabled him to silence the 
language of contempt, where it could not otherwise 
influence public opinion. He is now placed be- 
yond the reach of censure and applause, and I re- 
joice in having an opportunity of expressing my 
gratitude, by offering this tribute to his memory 
without fearing to incur the imputation of flattery. 

Next to Mr. Whitaker, I feel myself much in- 
debted to several gentleman, who have rendered 
me some assistance by giving me free access to 
their libraries. Thpse to whom I allude, have 
treated me with a degree of respect to which the 
merits of my works can bear only an inadequate 
proportion. I acknowledge the obligations which 
their kindness have laid me under, and should feel 
much pleasure in mentioning their names, but I 
do not know that it would be agreeable, and without 
being assured of this, it is a liberty which 1 dare not 
take. To many of those from whom I have receiv- 
ed tokens of approbation I am personall}^ unknown. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. xv 

their acts of kindness are therefore enhanced by the 
manner in which they have been communicated. 
I do not know that they estimate their favours so 
highly, but I should reproach myself with ingra- 
titude, were I to omit this tribute of acknowledg- 
ment. 

It has been a hackneyed topic with authors to cen- 
sure the ingratitude of the age in which they live. 
I do not pretend to estimate either the propriety or 
the impropriety of the charge as it respects others^ 
but experience has taught me a different lesson. 
I have found more reason to be grateful for sup- 
port than to complain of the want of it ; and I 
shall be extremely glad to find that 1 have given to 
my numerous Subscribers no occasion to wish that 
they had withholden what they have now bestowed. 

To those Ladies and Gentleman, whose names 
honour and recommend my work, I hold myself 
under peculiar obligations, for enabling me to send 
this volume into the world. It gives me sensible 
pleasure to behold in the list of my subscribers the 
names of a considerable number of persons who pa- 
tronized my former production. I hope this will 
afford them equal, if not superior satisfaction. 

For the patronage which they have afforded me, 
I hope they will have the goodness to accept my 



xvi ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

most sincere thanks. It is not in my power to 
make them any other requital, than that which the 
perusal of the book will afford May God accom- 
pany it with his blessing, and grant that all who 
read it may have their pai ts in the Resurrection of 
the just I 

SAMUEL DREW. 

St. Austell, March, 20, 1809. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER L 

Page 

On the State of Man before the Introduction of Mo- 
ral Evil, 

Sect. I. — General View of the Subject _ - - t 

Sect. II. — On the Immutability of God - - ^ 5 

Sect. 111,^-That the Human Body must have been 
originally Immortal^ proved from the primeval 
State of Man^ and the Immutability of God consi- 
dered together - - - - - - 11 

Sect. IV. — 0?i the primitive and elementary State 
of Matter^ and the nature of simple and compound- 
ed Bodies -,-.-- -18 

Sect. V. — Arguments tending to prove^ That the 
Immortality of the Body of Adam^ was secured 
by the Efficacy of the Tree of Life^ notwithstand- 
ing the natural Tendency of the Parts to Disso- 
lution -.^w-«--24 

CHAPTER II. 

On the Introduction of Moral Evil, its Infiuences on 
the Human Body, and the removal of the Tree of 
Life .-..-. _ » 43 

CHAPTER III. 

On the Annihilation of Moral Evil, corisidered sepa- 
rately, and in connexion zoith its Causes, Effects, 
and Consequences, The Result highly favourable 
to the Resurrection of the Human Body from the 
'Grave, 



XXX CONTENTS. 



Page 



Sect. I. — If Moral Evil shall be annihilated^ the Re- 
surrection of the Human Body must be presumed 
to be a necessary Effect - - - - - 65 

Sect. II. — Argwnents tending to prove^ That the An- 
nihilation of Moral Evily can only be effected by a 
vicarious Sacrifiee - - - - - - 85 

Sect. III. — Oji the Effects which will result from the 
Destruction of Deaths when considered under the 
Idea of a Person - - - - - 97 

Sect. IV. — On the Effects xvhich may be expected to 
result from the Annihilation of Death^ when con- 
sidered as having' only a relative Existence, Pro* 
bation confined to the present State - - - 108 

Sect. V. — -On the Difference between the natural Ef- 
fects and moral Consequences of moral Evil ; with 
arguments tending to prove^ that the former must 
cease J and the latter continue for ever - - 125 

CHAPTER IV. 

On Identity i?i General, 

Sect. I. — On the Evidences of Identity - - .- 132 

Sect. II. — On ouY distinct Ideas of Identity^ found- 
ed upon the Diversity of its Nature - - 141 

Sect. III. — General Observations on the Identity of 

the Human Body - - - - - -148 

Sect. IV.' — The Identity of the Human Body more 

immediately considered, - - - - - \5% 

CHAPTER V. 

On the Analogy betzveen Vegetation^ and the Resiir- 
rectio7i of the Human Body, 

Sect. I. — That the Doctrine of the Resurrection 
has fewer Diffcultics than the Doctrine of Vege- 
tation - - - - - - - -in 

Sect. II. — That all Objections^ usually advanced 
against the doctrine of the Resurrection may be 
advanced against the Doctrine of Vegetation - 179 



CONTENTS. XXXI. 

Pago 
Sect. III. — That the Analogy bettveen Vegetation 
and the Resurrection of the Body is not destroyed 
by the Inequalities of Time, during xuhich the Bo- 
dies of different Men repose in the Grave - - 189 

Sect. IV. — Arguments to prove. That the Resur- 
rectioh of the Body can no more take place imme- 
diately , than Seed-time and Harvest can be blended 
together ^ - 203 

Sect. V. — In which it is proved. That St, Paul, 
when illustrating the Doctrine of the Resurrection 
by the Process of Vegetation, speaks the language 
of Philosophy and Reason - - - •, 209 

CHAPTER VI. 

Arguments tending to prove. That the Identity of 
the Hum.an Body must consist in some Germ, or 
Stamen, which remains Immoveable* 

Sect. L — In which it is argued. That the Identity of 
our future Bodies cannot consist in all the numeri- 
cal Particles, nor in the Majority of them, which 
occasionally adhered to the Vital Mass, in any giv- 
en Portion of the present Life - - - - 218 

Sect. II. — Arguynents tending to prove. That the 
Sameness of our future Bodies must be constituted 
by some Germ, or Stamen ; and that we nozu pos- 
sess all the Evidence of a Resurrection, which we 
can rationally expect in the present State - - 2 ST 

Sect. III. — The Objections against the Idea of a Germ 
as constituting the Identity of the Body hereafter, 
no Argument against its certainty. Several Objec- 
tions considered. Several Changes of our Bodies 
highly probable - , . - - _ 245 

Sect. IV. — Probable Arguments, That the Changes 
through which our Bodies have already passed, 
are a Groundwork of our future Expectations, and 
ensure upon Principles of Analogy, the Resurrec- 
tion of the Human Body ----- 265 



XXXll CONTETWS, 



Page 



Sect. V. — Arguments to prove^ That Gramtation 
must be inapplicable to our future Bodies in ano- 
ther World^ and that the Loss of Gravitation will 
make a considerable Distinction between these Bo- 
dies which we now have^ and those which shall be 
hereafter - - - - - _ - 283 

Sect. VI. — Arguments to prove^ That though our fu- 
ture Bodies must be formed of parts ^ the Peculia- 
rity of their situation will place them beyond the 
reach of Dissolution* Reflections on our present 
and future Condition ----- 301 

Sect. VII. On the Origin of bodily Identity. Ar- 
guments to prove^ That the Identity of the Body can 
have no Existence prior to the formal Existence 
of the Body, That Abortions are perfectly recon- 
cileable with the Theory xvhich has been advanced 315 

Sect. VIII. — Summary of that direct Evidence by 
which we are assured^ that the Identity of the 
Human Body^ must consist in some radical Prin- 
ciple^ or Germ^ which can neither expire nor 
change -------- S34 

CHAPTER VIL 

That the Resurrection of the Human Body^ is Pos- 
sible^ Probable^ and certain, proved both from Phi- 
losophy and Scripture. 

Sect. I. — That the resurrection of the Human Bo- 
dy is Possible, pnoved from, the Nature of in- 
finite Poxver, and the unobstructing Nature of 
Matter - 347 

Sect. II. — That the Resurrection of the Human Bo- 
dy is highly Probable, from a Traiii of presump- 
tive arid analogical Evidence " " ' : ^^^ 

Sect. III. — That the Resurrection of the Human 
Body is Certain, proved from the Principles of Phi- 
losophy, the Justice of God, and compounded Na^ 
turc of Man - - - - - 374 

Sect. IV. — Observations on several Passages of the 
Fifteenth Chapter of the First Book of Corinthi- 
ans, in xvhich Philosophy and Authority, are com- 
bined and considered together - - . 404 



AN 

ESSAY 

ON THE 

IDENTITY AND GENERAL RESURRECTION 

OF THE 

HUMAN BODY. 



CHAPTER L 



ON THE STATE OF MAN BEFORE THE INTRO- 
DUCTION OF MORAL EVIL. 

SECTION I. 

General View of the Subject. 

J\.^ no being can be infinite but God, no doubt 
can be entertained that all finite intelligences had a 
beginning ; and those which had a beginning, must 
owe their origin to another. This remark is ap- 
propriate to man, and is not confined to any de- 
tached light in which we may view him, but is 
equally applicable both to his body and his soul. 

But though both matter and spirit must 
have had a beginning, it will not thence follow 
that they must have had an end. They may 



2 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

change their modes of being, and their relations to 
each other, in all the variety of forms which is with- 
in the reach of possibility, and yet remain at the 
same distance from the real absence qf being as 
they were when God first called them into exis- 
tence. 

That a spirit, though created, cannot die, is plainly 
demonstrated to us by the deathless state of angelic 
natures, and by the immortality of the human souL 
And we plainly discover in these two instances, that 
beginning of existence does not include an end. 
We also discover in all the modes which any given 
portion of matter is capable of assuming, that it is 
always at an infinite distance from a perfect non- 
entity. Something and nothing are extremes which 
never can meet together ; and the distance which 
lies between them, no approaches can possibly fill 
up : and therefore the real absence of being which 
is a nonentity, must always be at an equal distance 
from all given substances to which these possible 
modes of existence are ascribed. 

The combinations which the particles of matter 
form with one another, are indeed, continually dis- 
solving; new unions are constantly taking place in 
regular succession to each other : and the modifi- 
cations of matter, seem to undergo perpetual 
changes. But we can trace no more analogy be- 
tween the real absence of matter and a world, be- 
cause a world and an atom must be at an equal 
distance from the real absence of all that is mate- 
rial. If therefore, neither the. infinite divisibility of 
matter, nor the various modes which it undergoes 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 3 

and is capable of undergoing, can reach the inter- 
nal constitution of matter, or otherwise affect it, 
than by altering its configuration, while its essence 
remains untouched, and while its substance is en- 
tire, we may safely infer, unless God should 
alter the laws of nature, that matter itself will be 
as perpetual as spirit ; and that it must continue 
for ever, under such forms and in such modes, as 
God in his infinite wisdom shall think proper. 

That man is formed of matter and spirit, will 
admit of very little doubt. While in union w^ith 
each other, these substances partake of one com- 
mon life, and are cemented together by ties which 
are at once permanent and unknown. 

That the spiritual part of man shall never die, 
is to be inferred from the properties of the human 
soul.* The soul therefore, from its superior nature, 
must be capable of subsisting without the aid of 
the body, in a distinct and separate state. And 
that the body, when separated from its union with 
the soul, must cease to act, we are convinced of 
by the most unquestionable proof. In that state of 
separation, all compact seems to be dissolved ; the 
spirit retires into another region, to mix with beings 
whose natures are analogous to its own ; while the 
body is consigned over, and apparently for ever, to 
darkness and corruption. 
The coaipact being thus dissolved, all union en- 



* See my Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the 
Human Soul. 8yo. 1S03> 2ncl edit. 



4 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

tirely broken off between the spiritual and material 
parts of man, and even the constituent parts of the 
body ceasing to adhere to each other, and the 
particles of which it was composed incorporating 
with other particles of matter, it becomes a question 
of the most serious importance, whether this body 
shall rise again or not ? 

To inquire into this fundamental article of our 
belief ;— to know what evidence we have in favour 
of this doctrine ; — what the nature of that evidence 
ought to be, which we might rationally expect on 
such a subject ; — how far difficulties should be per- 
mitted to operate against conviction, and to lay an 
embargo on belief ;— -to know whether Revelation is 
our exclusive guide, or whether God has furnished 
us with strong intimations oi a future resurrection 
from other sources : — to know what these sources 
are, whence we derive our evidence, and how far 
the proofs may be deemed conclusive which may 
be adduced in favour of this important point, — are 
questions which I propose to discuss in the follow- 
ing sheets, and which will occasionally become the 
subjects of investigation. 

As we admit that man must have had a beginning, 
and as his material part is the subject of our present 
inquiry, it is necessary that we first turn our 
thoughts to his original state. It is in that state 
alone that we can view him detached from these 
extraneous circumstances which now involve the 
evidences which lam about to examine ; and which 
lie scattered over that pathless desert which I shall 
attempt to explore. In order that the mind may be 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 5 

detached from its local views and partial percep- 
tions of man, we must take a survey of creation, 
since w^e can only infer his primary state, and the 
real nature of his original condition, from the re» 
lation in which he then stood to his Maker. And 
therefore to those attributes of God, which we con- 
spicuously discern in all his conduct and actions 
towards his creatures, and particular!}' in that 
which applies to man, we must necessarily appeal. 



SECTION II. 

On the Immutability of God, 

That the human body cannot have been eternal, is 
a truth which will admit of no doubt, and can re- 
quire no proof; it must therefore owe its origin to a 
superior cause, and that cause must be God. 

That God. from his nature and attributes, must 
profess all possible perfection, it will be needless to 
prove, because it is a truth which it is useless to 
deny. And if all possible perfections are possessed 
by him, immutability must be included among the 
essential attributes of his nature. 

Without entering into any formal proof of this 
truth I shall assume it as an admitted point, be- 
cause those by whom it is denied, are under the 
necessity of undeifying his nature, and ultimately 
denying his existence. The existence of God is a 



6 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

ground-work which I presume no intelligent mind 
will hesitate to grant me, and from those who re- 
fuse me this point, I shall take the liberty to appeal. 

If then, the existence of the divine nature be 
admitted, the existence of all possible perfections 
are inseparable from the divine essence ; and, in 
conjunction with each other, they are truths which 
must stand or fall together. To admit the divine 
nature, is to admit the divine attributes; and to admit 
the divine attributes is to admit the divine perfec- 
tions ; and the instant we attempt to separate them, 
we involve ourselves in palpable contradictions. 

Taking therefore the infinite perfections of God 
as an admitted point, I contend, that these perfec- 
tions must include immutability as an essential 
property of his nature. For could we imagine 
that God possesses all possible perfections, and yet 
suppose immutability not to be included in the list 
of these perfections, we must suppose him capable 
of changes which are incompatible with those attri- 
butes and perfections which we ascribe to him. A 
being who sees reason to counteract to-day, what 
was accomplished yesterday, must be wiser now 
than he was then. And the action of to-day, plain- 
ly tells us that the action of yesterday must have 
been erroneous, though it then appeared right and 
just. But if the knowledge of the eternal God, be 
greater now than it was then, it is a certain fact 
that his knoweldge was not perfect yesterday, and 
it is highly probable that it is yet in a state of 
imperfection. A knowledge which can admit of in- 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 7 

crease in any stage of progression, cannot in those 
stages be perfect ; and consequently cannot be in- 
finite ; and that which is not infinite can neither 
apply to God, nor belong to his nature. Bat as 
God must be infinite in all his perfections, and as 
perfect knowledge must be included in those perfec- 
tions, no increase or diminution of his knowledge 
can possibly be admitted. And therefore, perfectly 
acquainted as he must be with past, present, and 
future, with all contingencies, and all possible 
circumstances, no changes can take place in 
him, his immutability therefore necessarily arises 
from the nature of his other perfections, and the 
nature of his existence. 

That apparent changes, are however perfectly 
consistent with absolute immutability, must be ad- 
mitted, because apparent changes are perfectly con- 
sistent with God. Immutability may seem to 
change in its actions towards changeable creatures, 
while in itself it remains perfect, unaltered and 
entire. 

We are furnished with evidences on this point 
from our constant observations of the heavenly 
bodies ; since we behold in them an apparent and 
a relative change through every succeeding day. 
But the stations which the fixed stars hold in the 
regions of space, are permanent and immutable, 
notwithstanding the perpetual revolutions which they 
seem to undergo. And were the orb which we in- 
habit as fixed as they, all would appear as they 
reallv are ; and the various revolutions which des- 



S IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. I. 

cribe our days, our months, and years, we should 
then inquire after in vain. 

The changes which we perceive, reside not in 
them but in us. The stars are fixed, while the 
earth is perpetually revolving ; and it is the in- 
accuracy of popular observations which induces 
us to transfer the changes we perceive from our- 
selves to them, and to charge upon the fixed stars, 
that change of place which belongs to the globe 
which we inhabit, and which in them has no exist* 
ence. In like manner, it is perhaps not impious 
to transfer the analogy, to the immutability of God, 
and the mutability of ourselves, we can then with 
safety '* assert eternal providence, and justify the 
ways of God to man." 

That there is in God an immutable hatred to 
vice must be unquestionable, vice being the reverse 
of his nature ; and that there must be in him an 
immutable attachment to holiness, it being conge- 
nial to his essence, must be admitted on the same 
ground. And as God is thus immutable in him- 
self, so long as his rational creatures hold their res- 
pective stations, in which his goodness had previous- 
ly placed them, so long are his perfections bound 
to protect them from every evil ; and consequently 
to preserve them from dissolution and decay. But 
when his creatures change their stations through 
the mutability of their natures, they change their 
relation to God ; and a change in their condition 
must be the necessary result of their departure 
from him. 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. .^ 

But this change arises not from any mutability in 
God, but from the immutability of his nature ; for, 
as the perfections of God were bound to protect and 
preserve those who were dependent upon him, so, 
by the same iminutability of his nature, God was 
bound to withdraw his protection from them, when 
they departed from that station in which his good- 
ness had placed them, and engaged to protect them* 
As God manifests his love to all who are found in 
the way of holiness, and manifests his hatred to all 
who are found in the way of vice, it is evident that a 
continuance in the way of holiness is necessary to the 
continuance of his favour: and we can no more con* 
ceive that these cases can be reversed while the nature 
of God remains immutable, than we can conceive the 
same thing to be and not to be in the same instant. 

If God directs his love to A. and to the inhabi- 
tants of A. and his hatred to B. and to the inhabi- 
tants of B. we have the case precisely laid down 
before us ; and we see with exactness the true situ- 
ations of the respective inhabitants both of A. and 
B. But if the inhabitants of A. should retire from 
their station, and depart to B. it is evident that they 
would go from love to hatred, and yet be under the 
same God, who was, and is, and ever shall be, 
unchangeable in all his ways. And hence we may 
clearly discover, that apparent changeableness, and 
real immutability, are perfectly compatible with one 
another as they refer to God. But as they affect 
man, the conduct of God is really changed towards 
him, notwithstanding God is in himself eternal and 
unchangeable, in all his ways. 



10 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I, 

Nor are these reasonings confined exclusively to a 
moral view of man. They will apply with equal 
force to all his bodily as well as mental powers. 
For as the human body formed a conspicuous part 
of creation, and as the life of man was guaranteed to 
him, on condition of his abstinence from moral evil, 
the perpetuity of the human body must have been in- 
cluded under this guarantee, and its dissolution on 
this ground must have been for ever unknown. The 
promise of lif was suspended upon human obedi- 
ence ; and it extended no further. For as perlpetuity 
of life w^as the reward of obedience, so death was in 
part the punishment of disobedience ; and as man 
by his departure from obedience, forfeited his ( laim 
to perpetuity of life, so by his d'sobedience he sub- 
jected himself to that dissolution of body, which was 
included in the punishment annexed to immoral 
action. 

Thus may vi^e see in one view, the origin of the 
dissolution of our bodies while we contemplate the 
immutability of God. We see our dissolution ori- 
ginating in ourselves, while the immutability of God 
stands detached from every charge ; we see his im- 
mutability engaged to pr- tect rectitude, but nothing 
more; we see man departing from it, and thereby 
sinking into that dissolution, which, abstractedly 
from this circumstance, could never have existed. 

If God, under the; existence of present circum- 
-stances, were to perpetuate our bodies, he must de- 
part from those rules of invariable rectitude, which 
are always inseparable from his ways; and his im- 
mutability, under the various changes of man, would 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 1 1 

appear in a very questionable light. He must in 
this case change with his changeable creatures, and 
immutability will then no more attach to him than 
it does now to us. The conduct of God must in 
this case appear dependent upon the actions of man ; 
controlled by caprice, and subjected to those di- 
rections which the wayward sallies of our passions 
would impose. 

But the conduct of God is fixed upon principles 
of a more permanent nature. The irregularities 
which are visible both in the moral and the natural 
world, are attributable to other causes ; while the 
immutability of God stands unimpeached. It is 
because we have retired from that station in which 
his goodness had placed us, and in which his immu- 
tability had engaged to protect us, that our bodies 
die. And the evils of which we complain, do not 
overtake us because God is changeable, but because 
God is immutable in all his ways, and because we 
are changeable. 



SECTION III. 

That the Human Body must have been originally 
Immortal^ proved from the primeval State of 
Man, and the Immutability of God considered 
together* 

FaoM those general views, which, in the preced- 
ing section, we have taken of the immutability of 
Godj and of those changes with which it is compat« 



m IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

able, let us now turn our attention to the same at- 
tribute, and consider it in connection with man in 
his primeval state ; and the evidence in favour of 
primative immortality, will perhaps appear in a con- 
spicuous light. And, therefore, without inquiring 
into the motives or cause which induced God to cre- 
ate the world, 1 shall fix on the fact itself, and only 
presume that creation did take place. For whatever 
the cause or motives were, certain it is, that such 
cause and motives did exist, and hence Almighty 
Power and goodness called the universe into being. 
That a design to create man did exist in God at 
the time of creation, is demonstrated by fact ; and 
therefore a design to destroy the human body could 
not then have had a being. For if we suppose that 
a design to destroy the human body, did exist, in 
God at the moment in which he created it, we must 
suppose him to have been actuated by two opposite 
designs, the one to create, and the other to destroy 
the thing created. But in thus supposing, we place 
the designs of God, not only in a state of hostility 
to each other, but in a state of hostility to his attri- 
butes ; and we make a principle of immutability 
to produce designs, which, in the same moment, 
are destructive to each other. But since these 
suppositions are contrary to the divine perfec- 
tions, and perfectly incompatible with the immuta- 
bility of his nature, we must conclude, that those 
suppositions which are irreconcilcable with the na- 
ture of God, are at once inapplicable to him, and 
false in fact. Hence then the conclusion appears 
to be inevitable, that no design to (J^'stroy the hu- 



Sect. IILl OF THE HUMAN BODY. I's 

man body, could, at the moment of creation, have 
existed in God ; and while we retain our idea of his 
immutability, we are precluded from admitting the 
pQssibility of any such subsequent design from 
taking place. For since, under our present consid- 
eration, man is presumed to sustain the same rela- 
tive situation to God, which he sustained in the 
moment of his creation, no cause of a design to de- 
stroy him could originate with him. And as God 
must be immutable in his nature, as has been prov- 
ed in the preceding section, we are forbidden to sup- 
pose that any such design could possibly originate 
with him. And hence it follows, that as no design 
to destroy the human body, could, under actual and 
existing facts, have originated either with man or 
God, so no such design could possibly have exist- 
ed ; and, therefore the human body must have been 
exempt from dissolution and decay. 

Indeed, while we admit God to be the creator of 
man, we must view him as an infinite being, and 
consequently as one that is immutable ; and while 
we con.sider him thus as an immutable being, it 
will be impossible for us to admit the possibility, 
either of dissolution or death. For a man, standing 
precisely in the same situation in which he stood, 
when God first called him into existence, must have 
sustained the same relation to his maker ; tovsuppose 
that he can be both created and destroyed, and vet 
uniformly in both cases sustain the same relation to 
the cause of both ; while we admit, at the same time, 
the cause of both to be absolutely immutable, wii! 



14 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap, I. 

amount to somelhing more than a simple contradic- 
tion. 

A being which continues the same after it is cre- 
ated that it was when called into existence, can in- 
clude no more cause of its dissolution, the moment 
after, than it did in the moment of its creation. 1 he 
Sd.ue reasonings which will hold good to day, will, 
up n the same prmciple, hold equally good to-mor- 
row ; they will be equally available the day follow- 
ing, and we may extend our observations through 
the whole progress of duration. If, therefore, the 
human body can possibly be destroyed, during any 
period of existence subsequently to creation, with- 
out containing within itself any cause of that 
destruction, it is evident that this cause must be 
lodged in some other source. But since no other 
source can possibly be found but God, if the 
destruction of the human body were possible, we 
must, under these considerations, either attribute to 
him the destruction of the human body upon the 
same identical principle which gave birth to crea- 
tion, or we must suppose the Almighty to be actu- 
ated by contradictory designs But as we can no 
more conceive it possible that the iVlmighty can be 
actuated by contradictory designs, than we can 
conceive that destruction and creation can arise 
from the same principle, (which is making two 
o| posi^e effects to result from the same cause,) 
the destruction of the human bodv, under present 
circumstances, cannot possibly be imputed to God, 
And since the supposition, in either case, involves 
a' plain and positive contradiction, the result is in-= 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. . 15 

cvitable, namely, that the human body must neces- 
sarily have been immortal. 

The same moral causes which exist when the body 
is destroyed, must have been in existence when it 
was created ; because God is necessarily immutable, 
and the creature is presumed to have undergone no 
change. If, therefore, under these given circum- 
stances, the body could have been dissolved, we 
must presume, either that creation and dissolution 
are the same thing, or that two opposite effects have 
resulted from the same cause. To suppose the 
former we are forbidden by fact, and to suppose 
the latter is a contradiction. The final result must 
therefore be, that the human body must have been 
immortal. And hence also, since this theory and 
present fact are at variance with each other, the 
dissolution which the human body undergoes, must 
be attributed to some other cause; a cause distinct 
from any which has hitherto been explored ; a 
cause which could not have existed when man was 
first called into being; a cause which did not then 
reside in man, and which could not at any period 
whatsoever reside in God. 

What the precise state of Adam's body was, pre- 
viously to his fall, is a question, which has employed 
the pens of many writers, and has been productive 
of a multitude of conjectures. And, indeed, in 
cases where we are left without decisive evidence, 
conjecture and probability must become our only 
guides. 

With some, the body of Adam has been supposed 
luminous^ with others transparent^ and with others 



16 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

again lights aerial and spiritiiaL And these con- 
jectures seem to have been adopted purely to ac- 
count for that immortality, which has been so uni- 
formly attributed to it. The various arguments 
which have been adduced in favour of these differ- 
ent theories, it would be useless to detail. Every 
opinion will have its abettors, and every argument 
its proselytes ; error will have its advocates as well 
as truth. 

But on this point the book of God is silent ; and 
from this circumstance we feel an assurance, that it 
is a case in which philosophy can afford us little or 
no assistance, conjecture must be the only founda- 
tion on which these opinions rest. The principal 
facts which we learn from the sacred records on this 
subject, are, that God formed the mat erial part of 
vian out of the dust of the earthy and then breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life^ and man became 
a living sold. But why the body of Adani 
should be supposed luminous^ transparent^ or aeri- 
al^ are conjectures, the probability of which I have 
yet to learn. 

Indeed, I can have no conception how a body, 
which is aerial, can include within it those solid 
parts which we denominate bones, from which class 
the rib was taken, out of which woman was after- 
wards formed. Neither can I have any conception 
how transparency can become a property of parti- 
cles, which are in themselves opaque, and disposed 
as they are in a substance so multiform and complex 
as the body gf man. Nor can I discover, admitting 
his body to have been transparent, what advantages 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. If 

would have accrued from such a property. A body 
that is transparent Can be no further removed, in 
consequence of that transparency, from dissolution, 
than if it were opaque, like those which we now 
possess ; so that the very end for which the conjec- 
ture is introduced must be defeated, because no 
connection can be traced between the premises and 
conclusion. For if the body of Adam were as vola- 
tile even as light itself, still the union of its compo- 
nent parts would stand upon the same principle upon 
which ours now rest. And certain it is, that the 
volatile particles which we have supposed, would 
require the power of adhesion to preserve the con^ 
nection between them, as much so as if we were to 
suppose them to be more nearly related to those of 
our own. Whether, therefore, we suppose the 
body of Adam to be volatile or gross, to be trans-- 
parent or opaque, to be lumijious or dark, as the 
same power must be alike necessary in each case 
to make the different particles adhere, we shall 
still be obliged to claim the assistance of some qua- 
lity to establish that adhesion of the parts which 
is necessary to ensure perpetuity. This, therefore, 
must be a quality, which neither transparency nor 
opacity can possess, and which can reside in no 
external appearance whatsoever. The immortality 
of Adam's body^must, therefore, have depended upon 
other causes than can be derived from a mere com- 
bination of particles, in what fbrm soever we sup- 
pose them to be modified. 

E 



18 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Cbap.l. 



SECTION IV. 

On the prhnitive and elementary. State of Matter, 
and the Nature of simple and compounded 
Bodies. 

It has frequently been asserted, that all compound- 
ed bodies have within themselves an internal ten- 
dency to dissolution and decay ; and hence it has 
been inferred, that the body of Adam must have 
been destitute of that natural immortality which we 
have attributed to it in its primeval state. Of the 
abstract fact, little or no doubt can be entertained ; 
but even this fact can only be admitted under cer- 
tain limitations, for in the original state of matter 
things could not have been so. 

In the original chaotic state of matter, before the 
elements were fixed in their distinct abodes, every 
particle of matter must have been destitute of any 
common or particular- centre ; and it is certain, 
under these considerations, whatever might have 
been the peculiar modification of any given particles, 
that they could have contained within them no in. 
ternal tendency to depart from those stations which 
had been assigned them ; or even to separate from 
one another. And as all matter must in itself be 
stationary and inert, and as all external impulse 
must necessarily be removed by the supposition, it 
is certain that all bodies composed of these simple 
materials, must have remained for ever equally re^ 
moved from mutatiofi anddecav. 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. IQ 

That the real internal essence of matter, whatever 
that essence may be, must remam the same under 
every possible modification, few, if any, will at- 
tempt either to deny or doubt ; because it is from 
this unknown essence, that those essential proper- 
ties result which are known ; while, from these 
known essential properties, we are enabled to form 
distinct perceptions of those different substances^ 
which are presented to our view. Now, since all 
divisions of any given substance, must imply the 
previous existence of that substance ; and as those 
elements into which matter is now divided, were 
originally drawn from matter, it is evident that there 
has been a period in which matter must have exist- 
ed, abstractedly from those elements which now 
engross the material world. And consequently 
air, earth, water, and fire, could not have been co- 
eval with matter itself. It is, therefore, in this state 
only that we can view matter, detached from all 
internal tendencies and extraneous impulses ; and 
it is here alone, that we can view this substance in 
its real and most simple state. 

The elements into which all matter is now di- 
vided, may probably be considered as its simple 
state ; and we may readily conceive, when the con- 
stituent particles of any given body are resolved into 
those primitive elements, out of which they were 
first taken, that then these particles are reduced 
to their primitive abodes. In our common modes 
of language, and in the present structure of the 
world, this sentiment is undoubtedly just ; but even 



20 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

this elementary condliion of matter, must, ff)r rea- 
sons already assigned, be one remove from its pri- 
mary state. For as the elements of this world can 
be nothing more than divisions of matter, and as all 
substances must exist before they can be divided, 
so the state of matter undivided mto elements, 
fnust be more simple than the elements themselves 
now are, how simple soever they may appear. 

In this original state of things, before the ele- 
ments were formed, they could not possibly have 
had any mode of existence distinct from one ano- 
ther ; and consequently the particles which now 
compostr these elements, could have had no distinct 
points to which they could severally tend. All 
must have resorted to one c mmon home, and not 
a sing'e atom cbuid have had any tendency to seek 
any new abode. In this original state, while all 
the elements were mixed in their prcgiiant causes, 
every particle of matter, as to its nature, its ten- 
dency, and its properties, must have been alike. 
And in this state, whatever combinations any atoms 
might have assumed, no tendency could have re^ 
sided within them, to remove them from that station 
in which they had been previously fixed. 

As the different elements had no distinct exist- 
ence, so they could not possibly have operated, to 
recall th^^se atoms to distinct regions : and as all 
matter must be in itself inert, and resting on its 
common centre, no tendency to remove could reside 
wiihin the particles themselves. And consequen;Iy 
^11 bQ4ies which are removed from external impulse 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 21 

and internal tendency to motion, whatever their in- 
ternal constitution may be, ^rnust continue for ever. 

That all matter, in its most simple state, must 
have been capable of divisibility, is demonstrated 
by fact, because it was afterwards divided into those 
elements which now exist. We are, therefore led 
to conclude, that whether we presume matter to 
have been modified into a human form, or into a 
combination, either more or less complex, an union 
of divisible particles in either case appears necessary, 
without including a necessity of dissolution, any 
more than was included in it in a purely chaotic 
state. For as in each of these cases, a combination 
of part? appears inseparable from matter, so each 
given portion of matter must have been formed of 
similar materials, possessing similar inertness, 
though somewhat diiferently combined : and so 
likewise in all these cases, they must have been alike 
destitute of all tendency to dissolution and decay. 
Even those particles which we have presumed to 
have been modified into a human form, must have 
retained their respective stations; and continuing 
under these circumstances, the modification itself 
must have continued for ever. For as the stability 
of the modification, depends entirely upon the sta- 
bility of those particles, on which that modification 
depends for its own existence, so the stability of the 
particles must communicate stability to the modifi- 
cation, and therefore the particles remaining un- 
changed, the modification itself must continue for 
ever. 

That God was able, out of this original state of 



3^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

matter, before the elements had obtained their sepa- 
rate state of existence, to form a human body, had 
he been so disposed, no man can seriously doubt, 
who will admit him to be possessed of infinite 
power. It is from this vast mass of materials that 
God has actually made what are commonly termed 
the elements themselves ; out of these also he has 
made the world, and the material part of man. 
And surely we cannot doubt that the same power 
and wisdom which formed the elementary par- 
ticles of matter, the world, and man, could, 
from the same materials, have formed man with- 
out the intervention of those elements, which, sepa- 
rately con-^idered, did not originally exist. And if 
God, in this primary state of matter, had modified 
any given number or quantity of particles into a hu- 
man body, it is certain under the circumstances 
given, that the particles thus modified, could have 
had no tendency to separate from one another, any 
more than matter under any other mode, could have 
had an internal tendency to infinite divisibility. And 
therefore, as the particles modified could have had 
no such tendency to separate from one another, the 
modification, which depended upon the stability of 
their situation, could not have been lost ; and conse- 
quently, the human body, into which we have sup- 
posed these particles to have been wrought, must 
have acquired perpetuity, and have been completely 
placed beyond the reach of dissolution and decay. 

Under these considerations, the particles of 
which the body is presumed to have been com. 
posed, could have no specific gravitation towards 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 23 

their respective elements, becau^^c these elements as 
yet had no distinct existence. And that common 
being, which we may presume these elements to 
have had in their pregnant causes, must have re- 
sided as much in the particles themselves, which 
were thus modified into a human body, as in any 
other parts of that chaotic mass, out of which these 
particles were at first taken. The inertness of these 
atoms must have prevented them from begetting 
in themselves any tendency to depart from that 
mode which we have presumed ; and as one mode, 
in this state, must have been as congenial to their 
natures as another, that of a human body could in- 
clude within it nothing more opposed to their na- 
tures than those atoms experienced, which lay in the 
undistinguished mass, in which matter received its 
first formation. Where, inertness pervades any 
given mass, from which all external causes are to- 
tally removed, through which the parts of that mass 
might receive an influence or impulse, there, n^ 
tendency to change can possibly exist ; and a body 
thus constituted, and thus situated, must necessarily 
remain forever. For since the stability of the mo- 
dification must depend upon the permanency of the 
particles modified, the modification must be as far 
removed from dissolution, as the particles them- 
selves are from separation ; and consequently both 
must continue for ever. Hence then this final con- 
clusion follows ; that though, in the present state of 
things, all compounded bodies have within them 
a natural tendency to dissolution ; and though eve- 
ry particle perpetually tends towards its elementary 



24 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION fChap. I. 

vabode, yet, in the original state of things, it could 
not have been so. The tendencies, therefore, which 
we perceive, must have arisen from some other 
source ; a source, which, in that remote period of 
duration, could have had no existence. 



SECTION V. 

Arguments tending to prove ^ that the Immortality of 
the Body of Adam teas secured by the efficacy of 
the Tree of Life, notwithstaiiding the natural 
Tendency of the Parts to Dissolution, 

When, from this remote view, in which we have 
been considering the constituent divisible parts of 
matter, before the elements were called into any dis- 
tinct existence, we turn our thoughts to those 
elements into which it has been since divided, and 
%om which the human body has been actually 
formed, the natural tendency of all compounded 
bodies to dissolution assumes a very different form. 
In this case, without all doubt, the various particles 
of which the human body was actually formed, have 
a native tendency to resolve themselves into their 
pristine elements, through an inherent tendency 
somewhat analagous to gravitation. This pro* 
pensity, or tendency, seems to have been impressed 
upon all the parts of matter with which we are in- 
timately acquainted, in what element soever they 
may reside. But what the origin of this tendency 
is, how flu' it actually extends, and what the boun- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 25 

daries of its operations are, appear to be points 
which, with exact precision, we cannot comprehend. 

That Adam, when created, was permitted to eat 
of ail the trees in the garden^ except one which 
was interdicted, is plain scripture ; and from this 
circumstance, it may be as plainly inferred that nu- 
trition was necessary to the preservation of hi« 
being. And since he possessed those appetites and 
faculties, which were calculated to perform all the 
functions of animal life, I can discover nothing 
\vhich could mark the nature of his body, as being 
distinct from that of our own. K or have I hitherto 
discovered any peculiar properties which his body 
could possess, except that manly beauty which must 
have resulted from that perfect state of moral recti- 
tude, which was inseperable from that primeval state 
of man. The command which was given to our first 
parents to be fruitful and multiply^ and to replen- 
ish the earthy proves them to have been of the 
same earthly mould with ourselves ; though mor- 
tality could not be applied to their condition, nor 
could death attach itself to the great progenitor of 
mankind. 

There can be no doubt, that the human body 
was originally more excellent than it is at present, 
and we are even compelled to conclude that the body 
of Adam approac ^ed much nearer to a state of per- 
fection, than the bodies of any of his posterity have 
since been able to attain. The changes which moral 
evil has introduced, are such as baffle all calcula- 
tions; and it is a point of inextricable difficulty for 
us to decide, how far we have descended in the 



26 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

scale of human dignity ; how much our organs are 
impaired ; how much we have sunk below that 
standard of primeval glory, which was once the dis- 
tinguishing characteristic of man. 

As man came immediately from the hands of the 
Almighty, nothing, either of moral evil or natural 
imperfection, could have been found in his nature. 
And so far as beings with capacities and facul- 
ties which were limited like those of the human 
species, were capable of bearing any resemblance to 
the moral perfections of God, man must have been 
created in a state of finite perfection. At the same 
time the human body, which formed an essential 
part of man, must, as coming from the hands of so 
excellent a workman, in conjunction with the rank 
which man sustained in the empire of creation, have 
been the standard of all terrestrial beauty and per- 
fection. 

The pure state of the atmosphere in which man 
was placed, must have been congenial to the state 
of his body, and the temperature of all around him, 
must have prevented all such effects as are produc- 
ed by the intensity of the heats of summer and the 
colds of winter. The temperature of the climate, the 
purity of the atmosphere, the odoriferous exhala- 
tions which all vegetative nature conspired to yield, 
being in perfect unison with his bodily organs, must 
have contributed to the longevity of a being not 
otherwise immortal, and lengthened out the existence 
of man to an extent of duration, of which modern 
instances can furnish us with no examples. In 
short, the happiness which must have resulted from 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN^ODY. 27 

such a harmonious state of things, it is hard to con- 
ceive, and still more difficult to express. It must 
have been a felicity to which we are strangers, and 
of which we must be content to remain ignorant in 
this state of being, and which, probably, we are 
under the necessity of dying to comprehend. 

In the midst of this general harmony, from what 
quarter could death possibly arise ? Could death, 
originate in God ? This must be contrary to his na- 
ture, and contrary to the facts which we have been 
contemplating. The general harmony of all nature 
had demonstrated, that the designs of God were to 
communicate happiness, and the immutability of his 
nature precluded the possibility of a change. It 
must have been contrary to the divine nature to les- 
sen that felicity which he had bestowed, which death 
must certainly have effected ; and therefore the con- 
clusion is certain, that death could not possibly ori- 
ginate in God. 

Could then the dissolution of the body flow from 
the body itself? This, under circumstances which 
we now review, could not be possible. The body 
gave not union to the particles of which it was com- 
posed,' and consequently could not destroy the ad- 
hesion of its component parts. The simple particles 
of matter never can be lost, in what form soever 
they may be, or may have been combined. And 
the modification of these particles into a human 
body, through the supernatural agency of God, must 
necessarily have been retained also, unless that su- 
pernatural agency was withdrawn, which his immu- 
tability rendered impossible ; or until some other 



28 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

adequate cause should dissolve the union between 
the combined atoms, and reduce them to their ele- 
mentary state* 

But what arguments soever may be adduced in fa- 
vour of primeval immortality, there is still a diffi- 
culty of considerable importance, which it is ne. es- 
sary to remove. The elementary divisions which 
had taken place in matter, had removed it from its 
primary condition, and impressed upon it the in- 
fluence of gravitation, or of something analogous 
thereto, which, by acting upon every particle, must 
have communicated to each a tendency, which was 
unknown in its primitive state. The body of Adam 
was not created until these divisions had taken place, 
and being composed of atoms wjiich had b; en se- 
lected from these different regions, the surrounding 
elements must have acted upon every part so that 
the silent but insinuating impulses which were im- 
perceptibly communicated, must have been produc- 
tive of the most astonishing effects. 

Compounded of atoms, and formed of dissoluble 
parts, the body of Adam, though possessed of im- 
mortality, must in itself have been capable of disso- 
lution ; v/hile betng free from all moral evil, it 
raust have been placed beyond the influence of mor- 
tality ; and this circumstance must have ensured to 
human nature that exemption from death, which 
sinless natures can alone claim as their exclusivcpri- 
viltge. Di-stituce of sin, he was not entitled to 
its wages ; Justice therefore could inflict no punish- 
ment ; and consequently his body must have been 
placed beyond the reach of death. By being desti- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 2^ 

tute of the cause, lie was exempted from its effect, 
and entitled to a mode and duration of being, which 
could know no termination, and be exposed to no 
decay. It is therefore to the influence of moral 
evil that we must look, for the primary source of 
those natural evils which imbitter life ; and, finally, 
for the decay of the human body in all the gradual 
revolutions and changes, which are attendant upon 
mortals in this afflicted state of things ; and that 
ultimate dissolution of its component parts, which 
invariably succeeds to death. 

It has been proved in the preceding Sections, that 
if moral evil had never entered into the world, death 
would necessarily have been unkown ; and this 
fact arises from the immutability and moral justice 
of God. But as the human body was made from 
a combination of those distinct elements, into which 
matter had been divided, some further process be-, 
came necessary in the divine economy, to perpetuate 
the duration of this compound, and to preserve it 
from natural decay. For since the matter of which 
the body was formed had been collected from the 
different elements, we may naturally presume, that 
the particles which were thus collected, included 
within themselves a natural tendency to seek their 
respective elementary abodes. 

Whether the dissolution to which all compounded 
bodies are now liable, arise from the peculiar na- 
ture of the atmosphere with which we are sur- 
rounded, or from that inherit tendency which re- 
sides within the particles themselves, continually 
urging them towards their native abodes, is a point 



30 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chat>. I, 

on which I have no occasion to decide. It appears 
highly propable, that dissolution arises from the 
mutaal influence of both. For, though all matter 
be in itself perfectly indifferent to motion and rest, 
and is perfectly passive when removed from all ex- 
ternal influence, yet, from a native tendency some- 
what analogous to gravitation, which is now im- 
pressed upon every particle, the«e particles, while 
removed from their primitive elements, and detained 
by an adhesive power, in any given combinations, 
in which they may be placed, perpetually seek their 
elementary state of repose. Nevertheless, while 
the power of adhesion continues, through which 
these exile particles are detained within the con- 
fines of the compounded body, this adhesion must 
be too strong for the elementary tendency of the 
particles to overcome. And hence it is that bodies 
continue in existence through the adhesion of the 
parts, while the parts themselves are actuated by 
opposite tendencies, and are constantly seeking a 
separation from each other. And hence also, it 
may be undeniably inferred, that while this adhesive 
power continues permanent, the particles themselves 
must preserve their respective stations, and neces- 
sarily remain in contact with each other, notwith- 
standing the opposite tendencies which are presum- 
ed to reside in all. 

Nor though we have admitted the native and inhe- 
rent tendency, of the different elementary particles, 
to seperate, and to seek their native homes, yet, while 
by the power of adhesion this contact is preserved, 
the whole body must be nearly in a passive state ; at 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 31 

least, it must be passive in proportion to the adjust- 
ment of those elements of which it is composed. 
The power of adhesion which cements the parts 
must be considered as counteracting all hostile ten- 
dencies ; and as making a point of union to arise 
from that mutual contact which it continues to pre- 
serve. And probably as this adhesive energy coun- 
teracts that tendency which the particles have, to 
seek their respective elements, matter must be re- 
duced to nearly the same condition, as that in which 
it would have been if no such tendency had resided 
within any part of the compounded body. It will 
therefore follow, that the dissolution of the body 
cannot be justly said to originate exclusively in any 
tendency which is lodged within the particles of 
which it is composed, because this tendency is sub- 
dued by the power of adhesion, but dissolution must 
primarily originate in some external cause. This 
causQ appears to be the atmosphere. 

That atmospheric air, by its penetrating quali- 
ties, must be capable of entering most of the hidden 
recesses of all compounded bodies, is a truth too 
obvious to require proof. And Wh are well assured 
from observation and experiment, that it is capable 
of destroying that adhesive quality, which combines 
the distinct particles of which the human body is 
formed, and through which the different elements 
adhere together. The adhesion being destroyed, 
through the penetrating influence of atmospheric 
air, particle after particle must be disengaged from 
the preceding union, and disengaged from their 
compounded state. And as this discharge of the par* 



32 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION fChap. I. 

tides from their adhesive state, must permit that 
tendeacy in each to operate, which had been sus- 
pended through that power of adhesion which is 
now no more, they must naturally seek their ele- 
mentary abodes, in which they must continue until 
removed by a:)0*her external impulse. 

On the ground of this theory it will perhaps be 
objected. " That as the elements were in exist- 
ence at the time when Adam was first formed, the 
atmosphere must have acted upon him, and there- 
fore the final dissolution of the human body is a 
necessary consequence of its compounded state, 
and, that the event must have taken place, although 
moral evil had never entered into the world." 

That the above objection contains a difficulty 
which opposes itself to the theory I have been ad- 
vancing, I most readily allow, but I flatter m\ self 
that it is a difficulty, which will admit of a satisfac- 
tory solution : and that this solution may be found 
in the Tree of Life, ^ 



* As there must 1^ in the particles of all bodies which are 
compounded of different elements, a natural tendency to seek 
their primitive, abodes, Infinite goodness has wisely provided 
for this tendency, and counteracted its efficacy by that power 
of adhesion which preserves the body modified. Thus pro- 
viding for the perpetuity of the compounded body, by the 
compound itself, notwithstanding the opposite tendencies of 
the particles of which it is composed. 

But here a new difficulty arises relative to the body of Adam. 
The air Vt'hich he respired, and which was absolutely neces- 
sary to the existence of animal life, possessed, through its 
penetrating influence, a power to destroy that adhesion 



I 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 33 

That the tree of life was placed in the garden 
of Eden will admit of no doubt with those who be- 
lieve the Bible, and it is incumbent on those who 
disbelieve it to account for facts which they dare not 
deny ; and to substitute in the room of scripture 
a more rational account than that which they de- 
spise. As this tree of life was planted in the 
garden by him who does nothing in vain, we are 
well assured that it must have been planted there 
for some purpose, and to know wliat that -purpose 
was, is the principal question remaining, into which 
we must now inquire. 

It is expressly called, in the language of Moses 
the tree of life^ which name could not have been 
given to it, unless it were endued with a life-giving 
^quality. Now certain it is, that this tree could not 
have been designed to communicate the origin of 
life, because this supposition is contradicted by the 
whole train of circumstances connected with it. 

which prevented the particles from retirinj^ to their native 
abodes. In this case also we see the infinite goodness of God 
in providing the Tree of Life ^ the salubrious efficacy of which, 
we may presume, counteracted the dissolvent quality of the at- 
mosphere, and preserved the body unhurt, amidst the opposite 
tendencies which encircled it. In this view we discover the 
perpetuity of the human body ensured on the most permanent 
basis, though composed of particles which belong to different 
elements, each of which had an innate tendency to seek its 
native abode. And at the same time we discover this assurance 
of perpetuity, while the body was surrounded with an atmos- 
phere which penetrated its inmost recesses, and which perpet- 
ually tended to destroy the adhesion of those particles of which 
it was composed, 

G 



S4 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

iThe eating of the fruit was the means through 
which its life-giving quality was to be communicr.ted 
to man ; and as the power of eating implies action 
in the eater, it must of consequence imply the pos- 
Sicssion of life previously to all application made to 
this tree. The origin of life could therefore never 
be communicated to man through any efficacy 
which it could possess. 

Neither could this tree be designed to restore 
life to diose who had been deprived of it, because 
death could in this period have had no existence. 
And even if we allow that death had at that time be- 
gim its ravages, those v,/ho were the subjects of it 
must have been incapable of making that active ap- 
plication, which was necessary in order to their be- 
ing benefited by its salubrious efficacy. 

Neither can we suppose that the design of this 
tree was to communicate to man the power to pro- 
pagate future life, because this power had been pre- 
viously communicated, independently of this tree. 
And in addition to this, we find that this power is 
still retained, though this tree has been placed be- 
yond all human reach. In what light soever there- 
fore we view this tree of life, our conclusions be- 
come ridiculous and absurd, unless we presume 
that it had the power to perpetuate that life, which 
had been previously communicated from God. It 
is therefore but reasonable to conclude, that the de- 
sign of iis efficacy was to counteract the dissolvent 
influence of the atmosphere, by which means the 
adhesion of the particles became permanent, 
and through which the human bod; , thoi.gh com- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 35 

pounded of dissoluble parts, was preserved from 
dissolution and decay. 

If this tree of life, whatever might have been its 
nature, had not possessed the invigorating quality, 
why was it denominated the Tree of Life ? Why 
was it placed in the garden in the primeval state of 
man ? Why was it removed when moral evil was 
introduced ? And removed on this express account, 
lest man put forth Ids hand^ and takc^ and eat^ and 
live for ever P Is it that we are amused in the book 
of God with idle theories ? Or can we suppose that 
the Father of mercies has sent us these accounts, 
to mock the creatures whom he had created, and that 
he has thus added deception to the miseries of human 
life ? If conduct like this can be attributed to God, 
we are at a loss to know the essential properties of 
his nature, and are utterly unable to reconcile such 
actions with his exalted perfections. But if such 
conduct be not attributable to him, we then must at- 
tribute to the tree of life, a life-giving quality, and 
finally conclude that the efficacy of its fruit tended 
to ensure immortality to those bodies which in 
themselves were formed of dissoluble parts. In the 
following order, therefore, this branch of the divine 
economy presents itself to our view. 

The human body which God created, was form- 
ed of parts ; these parts had been taken from dif- 
ferent elements, and included in their nature, a 
perpetual tendency towards their primitive abodes. 
To counteract this tendency which resided within 
the parts, an adhesive power was commimicated, 



S6 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

through the efficacy of which, that tendency was ar- 
rested, and all separation of the parts from one an- 
other prevented from taking place. 

But while this power of adhesion prevented the 
particles from separation, the atmosphere, which 
was necessary to the preservation of all animal life, 
possessing a dissolvent quality, naturally tended to 
destroy the adhesive power. 

The destruction of the adhesive power, must have 
liberated every particle, while the native tendency 
of these particles must have urged them to seek and 
find their native abodes, through which the human 
body must have been destroyed. 

Here are now before us two things to be subdu- 
ed, in order to the perpetuity of human life ; namely, 
the native tendency of the particles themselves, and 
the dissolvent influence of the atmosphere. To 
counteract the former, the power of adhesion which 
connected together the parts of the body was suffici- 
ent ; but to counteract the latter required another 
cause, and this cause we find in the tree of iife. 
The efficacy of this tree, appears to have been suf- 
ficient to repair the ravages which the atmosphere 
occasionally made ; and to strengthen those powers 
of adhesion which the influence of the atmosphere 
tended to destroy. Through these means, the 
parts of which the human body was composed, 
though possessing in themselves a tendency to sepa- 
rate, w^cre preserved irom dissolution; and the 
body which these parts composed was placed be- 
yond the influence ef decay. Such,therefore, was 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 37 

perhaps the primitive state of things. And while 
this tree of life continues its interposing influence, 
it must have effectually prevented the ultimate ac- 
complishment of that tendency which resided in the 
parts, by counteracting that influence which the at- 
mosphere exercised over the adhesive power, which 
connected the particles of w^hich the body was 
composed. 

Nor is this merely inventing a theory to serve the 
purposes of an hypothesis. Reason concurs with 
divine authority to give sanction to the sentiment ; 
the tree of Life v/as planted in the garden, and free- 
dom was given i\dam to partake of its fruit ; it was 
only removed from him after he had fallen from 
God, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of 
the tree of life, and eat and live forever. If there- 
fore a theory more rational cannot be invented 
than that which the Bible affords, the hypothesis 
before us has a double claim upon our assent; 
namely, from the rationalitv of the facts them- 
selves, and from the authority which these facts 
derive from revelation. 

If B. when "created, w^re compounded of mate- 
rials taken partly from A. and partly from C. and 
if these particles which formed a contact in B. w^ere 
to have in the aggregate an equal, or even an un- 
equal tendency towards A. and C. from which they 
were first taken, it is demonstrably certain, that 
while the contact continued in B. no particle could 
depart either to A. or C. ; under these circumstan- 
ces it is undeniably certain, that the compounded 



38 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

body B. must remain forever. For as the tenden- 
cies of the particles, in B. are supposed to be either 
equal or unequal, those particles which had been 
taken from C. will, in either case, prevent those 
which had been taken from A. fi'om separately re- 
turning to their native abode at A. and the result 
will be exactly the same if we reverse the case. 
But if, through any external cause, the adhesion or 
contact in B. should be destroyed, each particle 
would be at liberty to retire to its respective element, 
through its native tendency ; and in this case the 
compounded body B. would be no more. Hence 
then it plainly follows, that though we consider B. 
to be a compounded body, and though the particles 
which compose it have tendencies to other abodes, 
yet, while these tendencies are counteracted, and 
the contact preserved, the compounded body must 
be indissoluble, and consequently immortal. 

Now this comparison, even if partial in its appli- 
cation, will sufficiently prove the point for which it 
has been adduced. The human body is the com- 
pound in question, and this illustrative argument 
will prove, that while the power of adhesion con- 
tinues perfect and entire, though the particles of 
which it was composed, may have distinct tenden- 
cies to depart to their respective elements, yet, 
while the power of adhesion remains, these distinct 
tendencies would be overcome, and the com- 
pounded body will be precisely the same as though 
no such tendency had inhered in any of the particles 
of which it was composed. 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 29 

To destroy that adhesion which united the differ- 
ent parts of the human body together, the atmos- 
phere had undoubtedly a power ; and if nothing 
had been created to counteract its efficacy, no doubt 
that it must eventually have been dissolved. But 
to suppose the dissolution of the human body to take 
place, either through the defect of its own nature, 
or through an adverse principle in any external 
cause while we admit moral evil to be unknown, is 
to impeach the moral justice of God. 

The justice of God could only engage him to 
prevent death from taking place, the ways and man- 
ners must be left to his disposal. He might have 
created an atmosphere without including within it 
any noxious qualities, or he might have given such 
qualities to it and have counteracted their efficacy, 
without implicating the principles of eternal justice. 
He might also have formed the body of particles 
which had no tendencies contrary to one another ; 
or have formed it from those which had an opposite, 
and have provided for the safety of the body through 
the medium of some cement which should unite the 
whole together, without being chargeable with mu- 
tability, and without being unjust. These, or a va- 
riety of other ways, all equally w'ithin the reach of 
infinite power, the Almighty might have selected, 
as infinite wisdom might have directed his choice. 

But in the midst of these possible theories, we 
find that he chose to create the human body, under 
circumstances apparently the least favourable to its 
continuence, w hile he provided for its perpetuity on 
the most immoveable basis. He compounded it of 



40 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. 1= 

particles of opposite tendencies, which had been 
selected from distant elements ; and then placed 
this body under the influence of an atmosphere, ca- 
pable of dissolving the adhesion through which the 
different particles which composed it, adhered to- 
gether. Yet, even under these circumstances, he 
provided for its safety by the tree of life, the salu- 
brity of which not only counteracted the influence of 
the atmosphere, but protected the adhesive power 
which preserved the particles, and renewed the 
body in perpetual vigour. 

Thus then we find, that what tendency soever to 
dissolution may be presumed to reside in all com- 
pound bodies, Infinite wisdom had wisely provid- 
ed for the immortality of man, in the primeval 
state of things, by an efficacy which must have 
overcome, and risen superior to those circumstances 
on which the objection which we have been examin- 
ing, rests. The tree of life must have placed the 
human body at a distance which must for ever have 
prevented the approaches of death, and have en- 
sured to it that immortality' which is lost, and can 
only be attained, when the sea and the grave shall 
finally restore their dead. 

And hence also, on a review of those principles 
which we have surveyed, the following inferences 
and conclusions rise before us. While moral evil is 
presumed to have no existenne, no other reason can 
arise in any subsequent period of duration, why the 
body should be destroyed, than what must have ex- 
isted antecedently to its actual creation; for where 
any given created being continues morally and phy- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 41 

sically the same, no change whatever can be pre- 
sumed to have taken place ; and certain it is, that no 
new moral obligation can be presumed to originate 
in a being that is absolutely perfect and immutable 
in all his ways. And if we admit the same moral 
causes to have been in existence at the primary 
formation of man, through the active operation of 
which the human body has been since destroyed, 
we shall feel ourselves utterly unable to vindicate 
the divine justice in the creating of man. For if 
God be under a moral obligation to destroy the 
human body, and this obligation arises from the 
nature of moral justice, (and without this divine 
goodness must have forbidden the event) this obli- 
gation must have existed from eternity ; God must 
therefore have been under a moral obligation to de- 
stroy the body, even in that identical moment in 
which he called it into being from the dust of the 
earth. And to suppose God to have chosen to create 
a body, which he, in that very moment must have 
been under an obligation to destroy, is to make the 
choice of God to operate in hostility to moral justice ; 
and that choice which thus operates in hostility to 
moral justice, must in itself be unjust. But to sup- 
pose the fountain head of all justice and perfection 
to be actuated by a choice which is repugnant to all 
that is just and perfect, will involve some palpable 
contradictions ; and therefore this choice cannot be 
applied to God. 

But if, on the contrary, no such obligation did 
exist in God, and no moral cause of destruction 
could have existed in man, either when he was 

H 



4^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. I. 

created, or in any subsequent period, while he pre- 
served his rectitude and innocence ; and since all 
72fl/?/?'<3/ tendencies to dissolution^ and natural q'^lxxs- 
es of destruction, are presumed to be counter- 
acted, it becomes a subject of further inquiry to 
know whence this moral obligation has arisen. 
Whatever the cause may be, of this truth we are 
satisfactorily assured, that it could not have existed 
in the original state of things, but that it must date 
its commencement from some subsequent period. 
And of this we may also be convinced, that to this 
cause we must attribute all the inroads which have 
been made on the creation of God, in all its parts, 
as well as that final dissolution which the human 
body is destined to undergo. 

We may, nevertheless presume with confidence, 
that as this cause of calamity is but an intruder into 
the fair empire of creation, when it shall be done 
away, and be completely banished from the world, 
then a renovation of all nature shall take place ; 
then things shall be recalled back to their primeval 
stations, and death itself shall be no more. Then, 
moral evil, and those natural effects which have 
been produced by its innovations, shall cease for 
ever, and the original energies which called crea- 
tion into actual existence, re-assuming their sta- 
tions, shall continue without obstruction to operate 
through eternity. 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



CHAPTER II. 



ON TEE INTRODUCTION OF MORAL EVIL, AND ITS 
INFLUENCES ON THE HUMAN BODY; AND ON 
THE REMOVAL OF THE TREE OF LIFE. 

J^ ROM the various arguments which have been ad- 
duced in the preceding Sections, I conceive that it 
will be admitted, that a finite being which had been 
created in a state of moral rectitude, and which God 
at the moment in which it was created was under no 
moral obligation, to destroy, could not have created 
that moral obligation, while its nature and tenden- 
cies remained the same, and while it continued in 
the same state in which it was created. And as God, 
from the immutability of his nature, must be incapa- 
ble of those imperfections which are implied in ^uch 
a change as we must suppose, no cause could ori- 
ginate with him, while the creature preserved its pri- 
mitive state. For since the existence of the human 
body must have added to the felicities of life, it ap- 
pears impossible to conceive that God should de- 
stroy this body, without diminishing that portion of 
happiness which his goodness had originally given ; 
and which, in this viev/, he must have made to de- 
pend upon the preservation of the material part of 
man. If, therefore, to suppose that God can, with- 



44 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. H. 

out any adequate cause, destroy any portion of that 
felicity which originated in his goodness, be to place 
his goodness in opposition to itself, which will 
amount to a contradiction; it follows with decisive 
evidence, that if moral evil had never entered into 
the world, the human body, as w^ell as the human 
soul, must have been immortal. Thus far, the 
ground appears clear ; thus far no obligation to des- 
troy man nor any cause of dissolution has made its 
appearance, either on the part of God or man ; and 
thus far, immortality appears to be inseparable from 
the primitive state. 

But in the midst of this plausibility of theory, we 
find that all the arguments which have been adduced 
are placed in direct opposition to fact. The world 
is constantly falling to pieces round about us, and 
human bodies are hourly peopling the abodes of 
death. Generation succeeds to generation, and man 
to man ; and, in a few more years, it will be forgot- 
ten by our posterity that we w^ere ever born. 
Pence then we are assured, that the arguments adr 
vanced must apply to another state of things ; a 
state that existed before either moral evil or death 
had made its entry into the territories and habitation 
of man. And hence also we learn, that some 
important change must have taken place in the state 
of man, to produce those disastrous effects which 
constantly appear in these terrestrial regions. 

No change can take place in a being that is im- 
mutable ; the changes which have entered into ex- 
istence, must, therefore, reside in man ; aijd no 
cause appears capable of producing those changes 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 45 

which we discover, but moral evil. It is to moral 
evil, therefore, that we must look for all the dis- 
asters and calamities which aiRict and imbitter life ; 
and to this cause we must attribute the final dissolu- 
tion of the human body, as well as its state of capti- 
vity in the empire of death. 

But for moral evil, death could have had no ex- 
istence, because it is the reward of sin ; the Eden 
of our ancestors would have been our lot for a sea- 
son, which we are now unable to comprehend, till, 
perhaps by the appointment of God, we might have 
been translated into another region, where probation, 
peccability and contingencies, would have been 
alike unknown. 

We are now called to survey a scene, which pre- 
sents us with causes, obligations, and consequences, 
totally distinct from those, which, in the preceding 
Sections, have occupied our thought-s. In those we 
have contemplated the primitive and immortal state 
of man ; and in this, we must behold the entrance of 
moral evil into the world, and view the fatal influ- 
ence which it has extended over the human body ; 
the former we discover in theory, but the latter we 
must experience in awful fact. 

What the nature of moral evil is in the abstract, 
probably, in the present state, we shall never know ;' 
It is, however well known in its effects and conse- 
quences ; and from hence we learn that it is and must 
be exactly the reverse of God. That it had a be- 
ginning has been already proved ; and that it has 
corrupted and debased human nature, is too plain to 



46 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. II. 

require any evidence. When we take a survey of 
moral evil, and contemplate human nature, itappears 
mysteriousthat itshould be capable of extending in- 
fluences over the material part of man. Accustom- 
ed as we have been to behold matter operating 
through the medium of matter, it is not without 
some difficulty, that we can divest our minds of 
those local prejudices which are connected with our 
habits of reflection. , 

There are, however, appearances in the creation, 
which, though capable of demonstration, are equally 
removed from popular observation, and abstract- 
edly from those modes of proof of which they are 
susceptible, would equally lay an embargo on all 
belief. And were the immediate influence of moral 
evil on the material part of man, placed as much 
within the reach of demonstration, as those singu- 
lar appearances which the more visible parts of crea- 
tion afford, improbability in appearance would 
never be considered as an argument against fact, 
«or would it operate as an obstacle against our 
belief. 

That spirit is capable of operating upon matter, 
will hardly admit of a moment's doubt, it being sup- 
ported by the most unquestionable evidence, that of 
sensible proof. For if all primary motion in the 
material world has been impressed upon matter bji 
some foreign impulse, it is evident that it must 
liave originated in a source distinct from, and inde- 
pendent of matter ; and, therefore, to a being which 
is purely spiritual, we must look for th^ origin of 



Chap. 11.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 47 

that motion which is so visible in our senses and 
intellectual powers. If then all motion which w^e 
perceive in matter must primarily have originated 
in spirit, it must undeniably follow, that spirit must 
have modes of communicating its impulses to mat- 
ter, though these modes are too obscure for our 
comprehension. 

That there is within us a spiritual substance is a 
point which I shall assume without attempting to 
prove, and that there is an intimate connection 
between this spiritual substance, and the material 
part of man, is evident from the whole course of 
human actions.* But how this connection is form- 
ed, how any influence is communicated, and by 
what secret ties the union is preserved, are points, 
which, in the present state of being, perhaps we 
shall never know. The immaterial principle which 
resides within us, is, without all doubt, capable of 
influencing and operating upon our bodies, but to 
what points this influence and operation extend, or 
where those lines are drawn, beyond the boundaries 
of which they cannot pass, are subjects which elude 
our deepest researches. 

Most men are willing to allow that this influence 

shall extend to those cases in which we can trace 

the connection, and here we are apt to presume that 

all influence must end. But certain it is, that we 

have no more right to say to the influence of spirit 

over matter, thus far shalt thou com.e, but no further, 

than others have to deny this influence altogether, 

* See my Essay on the ImmateriaUt^- and Immortahty of 
the Human Soul, 



48 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IL 

because they can trace out no connection between 
, the two substances. The inability of one man to 
comprehend how this influence should extend be- 
yond the boundaries of his comprehension, can no 
more be admitted as an argument, that the influence 
must terminate there, than the inability of another 
to comprehend this influence, in any possible case 
whatever, can be admitted as an argument against 
its existence. In both of these cases, the extent of 
human comprehension is unjustly made the bound- 
ary of the influence of spirit. In the latter case, 
we have a decisive proof that the decision is errone- 
ous, and we have but little reason more to believe 
that the former is free from error. The plain truth 
seems to be, that our comprehension of any given 
fact, can never prescribe boundaries to it ; the fact 
itself must be admitted to exist independently of 
human knowledge ; and, therefore, the influence 
of spirit must be allowed to operate in those regions 
where the human understanding cannot possibly 
enter. The hopes and fears, the joys and griefs, the 
pains and pleasures of the present life, will, in a 
thousand cases, prove the fact, because we must 
admit their existence, and they can be traced to no 
other source ; and with the influences which are 
thus extended through natural life, must be con- 
nected the influence of those causes which produce 
both moral and immoral actions. 

That moral evil has in itself a positive and inde- 
pendent existence, I believe no one will affirm ; it 
therefore can have no more than a relative being, and 
can exist no longer than those beings continue to 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 49 

exist, which are capable of moral actions. For if 
all moral agents were at once destroyed, it would 
be an absurdity too gross to be imposed upon the 
mind of man, to suppose that in this case moral evil 
could have any kind of existence. As, therefore, 
moral evil has not in itself any kind of positive 
existence, we must look to moral agents for all the 
being which it can possibly possess. And although 
moral evil is, in a moral point of view, nothing 
more than the sinful thoughts and actions of a mo- 
fal agent ^ physically capable oj a better cojiduct^ 
yet so far can it extend its fatal influence in its ef- 
fects and consequences, as to derange the whole 
human system, separate soul and body, decompose 
our whole corporeal frame, and finally lodge our ma- 
terial parts in the house appointed for all living, in 
which state they must continue until the arrival of 
that period, in which God shall accomplish those 
promises which he has made to restore human na- 
ture from the grave. 

That moral evil must be incapable of annihila- 
ting any part of the substance of man, must be evi- 
dent from this consideration, vioral evil is not God. 
And certain it is, that nothing less than infinite, can 
cause that which is matter to become no matter, or 
cause that which is spirit to cease to be spirit ; for 
in these two substances the whole of man consists. 
Moral evil, therefore, whatever may be its nature, 
cannot annihilate any substance. And as moral 
evil is incapable of annihilating any substance, so, 
by the same reasoning, it will appear equally ab- 



50 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IL 

surd for us to suppose that death possesses any 
such power. For as death is the offspring of moral 
evil, and since nothing can communicate what it 
has not, it will involve a contradiction to suppose, 
that moral evil has communicated to death an anni- 
liilating power which it did not possess itself* It 
therefore follows, that neither moral evil nor death 
can possibly annihilate any substance, because nei- 
ther the former nor the latter is infinite ; and certain 
it is, that nothing less than infinite can destroy any 
given substance, which nothing less than infinkf 
could create. 

But how impossible soever it may appear, that 
death should annihilate any given substance, yet, 
when we apply its influences to compounded bodies, 
the whole scene assumes a different aspect. The 
composition of a being is not the substance of that 
l)eing; nay, the composition may be totally destroy 
ed, while the component parts remain uninjured 
and entire. The influence of moral evil may there- 
fore extend to the composition of the body, with- 
out affecting the substance of it. Thus death may 
destroy the modincation of the body, while the parts 
themselves remain immoveable in their own na- 
tures, beyond the reach of injury and decay. The 
same power which moral evil has to destroy the in- 
timate connection between soul and body, must 
be equally capable of dissolving the constituent 
parts, of which our bodies arc composed. And by 
secretly operating, in its natural effects, upon the 
whole mass, it may destroy the adhesion of the 
parts, and finally reduce to its primitive state, that 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 51 

body which was originally formed from the dust of 
the earth. But these changes can only affect the 
modification of body, and the arrangement of its 
constituent parts. The substance itself is not af- 
fected by these changes; it must still continue to 
retain the identity of its nature, and exist at an in- 
finite distance from the reach of death. 

It may, perhaps, be said that, "since moral evil 
has only a relative existence, we can have no concep- 
tion how it can produce those effects which shall 
finally terminate in the separation of the component 
parts of the body." That we cannot comprehend 
the physical manner of its operation, I most readily 
admit. Neither, I must contend, can we compre- 
hend how these parts were previously united which 
death dissolves ; nor do we know how moral evil 
can accomplish that separation which takes place 
between body and soul. We know not, indeed, 
how moral evil could extend its influence over the 
immaterial part, so as to contaminate and debase 
it ; nor can we know why it should be capable of 
alienating the soul from God, any more than we 
can comprehend why it should expose our bodies 
to disease and afHiction in time, and our souls to 
endless misery beyond the grave. In all these cases, 
the facts themselves are unquestionably certain ; 
while the modes of action are incomprehensible, 
and the physical process in each ease seems to be 
alike unknown. , 

But, since from the most decisive reasonings, 
and most unquestionable authority ; since from that 



52 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. II. 

knowledge which we have of the nature and attri- 
butes of God ; of the primeval state of man, and of 
the analogy of nature ; it must be admitted, that 
death could originally have had no existence in the 
works of God; we are furnished with every proof 
%vhich the nature of the subject can admit, that 
death, which is a natural evil, is an effect which 
can result from no other cause than moral evil ; and 
to attribute, either death, or that consequent disso- 
lution which the body undergoes, to any other, is to 
break down all distinctions between right and wrong, 
between good and evil, and to darken with impen- 
etrable shadows every principle of moral justice. 
Thus, then, since no other cause can be presumed 
to exist, except vioral evily to which we can, con- 
sistently with justice and truth, attribute the aliena- 
tion of the soul from God, its contamination with 
guilt, its separation from the body, and finally the 
dis-union of all the bodily parts ; the fact presses it- 
self upon us with an evidence more imperious than 
mere probability can afford ; and we have all the 
assurance, which the subject can encourage us to 
expect, that moral evil is the cause of death. 

It was admitted in the preceding section, that, 
since matter has been divided into those elements 
with which we are encircled ; all particles taken 
from either, have in themselves a native tendency 
to repair or fill up their respective abodes. It was 
also admitted, that the body of Adam had been 
composed of matter after being dius divided ; and at 
the same time it was contended, that an adhesive 
power lodged in the compounded body, preserved 



Chap. II.1 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 53 

its equilibrium, and counteracted that innate ten- 
dency which the parts of all compounded bodies 
possess. But the atmosphere, it was presumed, by- 
its dissolvent qualities, tended to destroy that adhe- 
sive power, which had been deemed so necessary 
to the preservation of the human body ; because 
this body had been compounded of parts. This 
circumstance conducted us to the tree of life, which 
God had planted in the terrestrial paradise ; the 
fruit of which, man, after he had violated the com- 
mand of his Creator, was forbidden to taste, lest, 
by eating, he should live for ever. And hence the 
conclusion became inevitable ; namely, that Al- 
mighty Power selected this tree of life as an instru- 
mental medium, through which he secured the im- 
mortality of that body, which, by being formed of 
parts, had a natural tendency to dissolution. 

Now, since this sacred tree has been planted in 
the garden of Eden, and was continued there 
until moral evil entered into the world ; and was 
placed beyond the re^fch of man as soon as he had 
transgressed the commands of God ; the dissolu- 
tion of the human body became an inevitable conse- 
quence of its removal. For, since all the atoms of 
compounded bodies are removed from their primitive 
elements, while they hold their stations in the body 
modified ; they can only remain in their peculiarly 
modified state, through that power of adhesion which 
connects the parts. The instant, therefore, that this 
adhesive power relaxes in its energy, the natural 
tendency of the particles begins to act ; and in pro- 
portion as this adhesive power becomes weakenedj 



54 IDENTITY x\ND RESURRECTION [Chap. II. 

progressive dissolution prevails, till the adhesive 
power being entirely destroyed, consigns over the 
compounded body to that complete dissolution 
which is consequent on death. 

The removal of the tree of life, must, without all 
doubt, have been an act of God, in which nothing 
besides could have been the efficient anise. But, al- 
though God, by his own will and power, placed this 
tree beyond the reach of man, the moral cause of 
that exertion of power must have been moral evil. 
And, by thus admitting nrioral evil to have so altered 
the state of things, as to cause that exertion of the 
divine power to remove the tree of life, we may 
make moral evil to be the primary cause of the dis- 
bOiUtion of the body, without even obliging ourselves 
to admit the necessity of moral evil, immediately act- 
ing upon it, to produce that effect which we behold. 

But, even admitting that *' if moral evil be the 
cause of dissolution, it must have an immediate ac- 
tion upon the body," as some contend ; I am so far 
from conceiving that the remark contains any insu- 
perable difficulty, since the whole analogy of nature 
appears to furnish us with instances, in which the 
action of spirit infiuences matter, though the manner 
of its operations are totally unknown. If, there- 
fore, the action of spirit inlluence matter in the or- 
dinary course of nature, there surely can be nothing 
irrational in presuming, that moral evil may so far 
extend its influence to man, as to dissolve the whole 
of our corporeal frame. 

If spirit operates upon matter, which is visible 
from the v/hole course of human actions, it must be 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 5-5 

by some kind of motion or modification of action, 
there being no other way in which we can conceive 
the fact to be possible. Now, it is not the vice or 
the virtue of any given action in which the power of 
actuation resides ; but in the action itself, abstract- 
edly considered, with which vice and virtue have 
little or no connection. It is true, that all moral 
actions must partake either of vice or virtue ; and 
the effects which they produce will be perfectly an- 
alogous to their nature; but since it is the action it- 
self of which we speak, in its relation to its cause, 
the object must be physically the same, whether it 
partake of vice or virtue, or be perfectly indifferent 
to both. For, though moral evil be nothing more, in 
itself, than the action of spirit unrighteously directed, 
yet still it is in itself as much an action, as if neither 
vice nor virtue had ever applied to moral agents. 
Thus then, even admitting moral evil to extend its 
influence immediately to the human body, we feel 
no more difficulty in accounting for its dissolution, 
than in accounting for those various actions which 
mark human life. And it becomes perfectly com- 
prehensible, without obliging us to have recourse to 
that miraculous power, to which, abstractedly from 
moral evil, we should be obliged to appeal. 

But, when, from this view of the immediate in- 
fluence of moral evil operating upon our bodies, we 
turn our thoughts to that m.edium through which 
God has thought proper to act, namely, by the re- 
moval of the tree of life, the case assumes a more 
unquestionable aspect. Here we view the final dis- 
solution of the human bodv, as the necessarv result 



66 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IL 

of things in the present state of the world ; and the 
evidence which supported the fact, presses itself up- 
on us with an energy which can hardly fail to pro- 
duce conviction. 

It may indeed be said, that ** by introducing the 
removal of the tree of life, as the cause of our disso- 
lution, we gave a discharge to moral evil ;" but this 
objection must surely be founded in mistake. It 
has been already proved, that God is unchangeable 
in all his ways ; and, as all possible perfection is es- 
sential to his nature, he must have an invariable at- 
tachment to purity, and an invariable aversion from 
vice of every kind. He placed the tree of life in the 
garden for the preservation of holy beings^ but for 
no other. But, as in the instant when moral evil 
entered into the world, holiness departed from hu- 
man nature; so, consequently, the beings whom 
God had promised to support were no where to 
be found. 

If then, the tree of life had been permitted to 
continue, after primeval rectitude had departed from 
man, God must have been mutable, in suffering 
this tree to \)q applied to purposes to which his pro- 
mises did not extend. And this mutability, in his 
actions, must have annihilated an essential property 
of his nature, while it must have added to the cala- 
mities of life, by perpetuating the miseries of man. 
The perpetuity of being in a state checquered with 
good and evil, must have perpetuated evil as well 
as good ; and that action which perpetuates evil, 
when with justice it can be omitted, must be too 
nearly allied to injustice to be applicable to God. 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 5f 

Perhaps the atmosphere which we noW respir^ 
and that food from which we derive our daily nou= 
rishment, while they invigorate for a moment, have 
within them a latent power to injure and destroy our 
frame, and unite in contributing towards the disso- 
lution of that body, which they now nourish and 
support. But, when the present state of things 
shall be swept aside ; when a new ^ra shall com- 
mence, when the face of nature shall be renovated, 
and the human body restored from the grave, shall 
inherit another, and more favourable clime ; then 
shall we be removed from these impediments, and 
placed beyond the reach of these ** injurious assist- 
ances," which we now derive from respiration and 
food, our bodies will feel no internal tendencies to 
dissolution ; and, by being removed from all exter- 
nal causes of decay, the parts of which they will be 
composed shall adhere for ever. 

Whether, in the earliest stage of human existence, 
the atmosphere and food of which we speak, were 
precisely the same as they are now, or whether they 
have undergone a change, are pohits not for me to 
decide. It seems most probable, that, like other 
parts of degenerated nature, they have sustained 
some injury ; and the atmosphere, like the earth , 
may have been cursed for the sake of man. It, 
however still retains a small portion of its primitive 
salubrity ; and that portion which it possesses may 
lead us to conjecture what its state must have been 
in those happy days, when moral evil was unknown* 
Its influences at present seem alike extended to all 
the visible parts of the creation with which we are 



58 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IT. 

acquainted ; so that few things can ultimately resist 
it, any more than they can survive the ravages of 
time. The life of man is now reduced to little more 
than half a century, beyond which not all the effi- 
cacy of medical art can make human nature to sur- 
vive ; our bodies then retire into those peaceful 
mansions, Avherc they insensibly realize these chan- 
ges, and undergo these operations which now, only 
engross our thoughts. 

It may perhaps, be asserted, that " if all the parts 
of compounded bodies have a natural tendency to 
seek their elementary abodes ; and if those bodies 
will be thus compounded which shall survive the 
grave, we can have no satisfactory assurance that 
they shall not hereafter be exposed to dissolution 
and decay." In reply to this objection, I observe, 
we have no reason to believe that this tendency to 
dissolution which is now found in bodies, com- 
pounded of different elements, will exist beyond the 
grave. Whether, indeed, those elements into which 
all matter is now divided, and of which our present 
and future bodies are, and will be composed, and 
through which this tendency has been called into 
existence, will survive hereafter, or be ultimately 
resolved into their original principles, I take not 
upon me to say ; but, in either case, it will not fol- 
low that this tendency shall subsist in a future state. 

If, in a future state, those elements into which 
matter is now divided, be resolved into their original 
principles, it will clearly follow, that the tendency 
to dissolution, which now exists in compounded 
bodies, and which results from their distinct exist- 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 59 

ence, must necessarily disappear ; in consequence 
of which, the body, though compounded of parts, 
will be capable of supporting itself without external 
aid. For, in this case, the distinct atoms, having 
no distinct centres to which they shall respectively 
tend, must continue to preserve those stations, in 
which, at the resurrection, they shall be fixed. 

The distinct elements, into which matter is now 
divided, have probably been thus divided for pur- 
poses subservient to creation, as we well know that 
this division is essentially necessary to man in his 
present terrestrial condition ; and consequently, 
these divisions may have no existence in any other 
state. For, when this condition of man shall be 
done away, and the present state of creation shall be 
no more, the elements may subside with the occa- 
sion of their being. And, should they be lost in 
one general form of indiscriminate matter, it plainly 
follows, that all propensity to dissolution must be 
for ever excluded, even from compounded bodies, 
and totally done away. 

There can be no doubt that our future bodies 
will be formed of matter, and of that matter which 
now forms their essential parts. But, though the 
matter itself shall be retained, the elementary divi- 
sions may nevertheless be totally abolished, and may 
mingle in one common mass, for which we want a 
name. And, since matter in its remote and primi- 
tive state, while undivided into elements, could have 
had no tendency to dissolution, whatever the pecu- 
liarity of the modification of any portion thereof 
might have been ; so we may reasonably infer, that 



00 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. II. 

the bod}^ which shall survive the grave, though 
composed of separable parts, if constituted in a si- 
milar manner, must be unaffected by all external 
impulses, and, consequently, must continue for ever. 
And, therefore, the mere compound of any given 
body, under these circumstances, cannot in itself be 
adduced as an argument against the perpetuity of its 
being, when matter itself shall be divested of those 
tendencies, which must have originated either in a 
peculiarity of local circumstances, or in external 
causes, which must be destroyed. And, hence it 
follows also, that all those arguments which may be 
drawn from the compounded state of our future 
bodies, to invalidate our belief in their immortality, 
must necessarily appear fallacious. 

In addition to the circumstances, which have been 
stated in the preceding paragraphs, the following 
remarks ought not to be omitted. The adhesive 
parts of any compounded body, which is purely ma- 
terial, which our future bodies must be, are as 
much matter as the parts which are cemented by 
this adhesion, And we have no more reason to be- 
lieve, that a tendency to dissolution can reside in 
the adhesive particles, than in those which are pre- 
sumed to be more solid and compact ; and, there- 
fore, an adhesive particle, placed in an adhesive 
state, must preserve its station as much so as one 
that is supported by that adhesion. For, where 
any given portion of matter, which is in itself per- 
fectly inert, is removed from all external influence 
?ind impulse, it cannot possibly have any tendency 
to remove from that station in which it was first 



Chap. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 61 

placed. It must preserve its native inertness the 
moment after it was created, it must be the same 
the moment following, and consequently must con- 
tinue in that state for ever. The removal of all ex- 
ternal impulses and influence must place particles, 
which are inert, beyond the reach of change ; and 
the same action, which established their first condi- 
tion, must continue to make that condition perma- 
nent ; and, under these circumstances, they must 
retain their adhesive properties and established situ- 
ations for ever. 

Thus far the argument will hold good, if we pre- 
sume that all matter is alike indifferent to motion 
and rest. But if, on the contrary, we presume 
that all matter possesses a certain power, by which 
it resists all change of place, as many have strongly 
contended, it v/ill be considerably strengthened and 
confirmed. For, if all matter be capable of resist- 
ing more or less all changes of situation, then noth- 
ing but external impulse can remove any given par- 
ticle from its station ; and such must be the nature 
of that impulse, that it must be capable of overcom- 
ing that resistance which the given portion of mat- 
ter makes in proportion to its magnitude or solid 
contents. What the precise quantity, or numerical 
particles of matter may be, of which our future 
bodies shall be composed, is a question foreign to 
the present inquiry. For certain it is, that neither 
specific quantity, nor numerical identity, can affect 
the abstract nature of compounded bodies. But, 
admitting the principles to be genuine on which I 
have proceeded, namely, that all matter shall be re- 



62 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. II. 

duced to its original state ; then, when the elements 
shall melt ivith fervent heat, the atmosphere must 
be destroyed ; then each particle shall preserve its 
station in our future bodies, and all the parts, of 
which they shall be composed, will adhere indisso- 
lubly for ever. 

Hitherto, we have surveyed but one side of the 
case which was supposed. We have thus far pre- 
sumed in that future state, which we shall inherit, 
that particles taken from different elements will 
no longer seek distinct abodes ; but that, equally 
fixed in their respective stations, each particle shall 
be at rest ; and that having no tendency to wander 
from its station, in which it has been placed, the 
parts of our future bodies must adhere to each other 
through eternity. Such are the consequences which 
will result, upon a presumption that the discrimina- 
tion of elements shall be done away. 

But, if on the contrary, we presume that this dis- 
crimination of elements shall not be totally abol. 
ished as we have presumed ; and that they shall 
not be blended together, as in the original state of 
things, before they had their distinct natures assign- 
ed them ; yet we cannot avoid concluding, that, so 
far shall the face of ^hings be changed, that they shall 
be deprived of their hostile influence towards one 
another, and happily concur in one harmonious ope- 
ration. Those bodies, which have slept for ages in 
the dust of the earth, awakened by the voice of the 
archangel, and the trump of God, while the world 
and all its appendages are consumed with devouring 
fire, will undoubtedly retire beyond the reach of the 



Chap. IL] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 63 

general conflagration, and, entering immediately 
into their eternal states, will live in regions where 
the atmosphere can extend no influence, and where 
gravitation can never reach. 

The destruction of the world by Aire must anni- 
hilate that common centre to which our bodies no\lr 
adhere, and constantly tend ; and, consequently, 
gravitation must necessarily be destroyed. This 
circumstance must counteract the tendency, which 
the grosser particles might have to cleave to their 
terrestrial confine, even though the atmosphere 
should remain, and though, in point of space, the 
renovated body shall be lodged within the sphere of 
its present attractive influence. But these points 
will rise into consideration in some subsequent 
chapter, and to that chapter we must refer for the 
discussion. It is sufficient in the present case, ihat 
we have seen the introduction of moral evil into 
the world, together with its effects and consequen- 
ces ; and, that through the removal of the tree of 
life, death has been entailed on all of woman born. 
Thus, by the disobedience of one man sin has enter- 
ed into the world, and death by sin, and thus has 
death passed upon all men, because all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of Gods and hence we 
are assured that the zvages of sin is death. 



64 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE ANNIHILATION OF MORAL EVIL, CONSID- 
ERED SEPARATELY, AND IN CONNECTION 
WITH ITS CAUSES, EFFECTS, AND CONSEq^UEN- 
CES. THE RESULT HIGHLY FAVOURABLE TO 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY 
FROM THE GRAVE. 

SECTION I. 

1/ moral evil shall be annihilated, the resurrection 
of the human body may be presumed to be a neces- 
sary effect. 

When we turn from those subjects, which have 
engrossed our thoughts in the preceding parts of 
this work to the annihilation of moral evil, and to 
those effects which must result therefrom, the mind 
is presented with a scene which is totally distinct, 
in its nature, from those which we have hitherto 
surveyed, and we enter upon a mode of argumenta- 
tion which is entirely new. 

In the foregoing parts we have seen the primeval 
state of man, and we have contemplated the fatal 
effects which have resulted from the introduction of 
moral evil into the world. We have also seen, that 
had it not been for moral evil, death would have 
been unknown, together with those natural effects 
which follow upon the body, when in a state of 



Sec. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. C5 

separation from the soul. And it is evident from 
those views which we have taken of the whole sub- 
ject in general, and from those proofs which have 
been adduced in favour of the facts ; that in what 
light soever death may be surveyed, it can only be 
considered as acting in subordination to moral evil. 
And therefore, moral evil must be considered by us 
as the primary cause of all the degradation, which 
human nature in this probationary state of exile, is 
destined to undergo. 

That the human soul must survive the grave, is 
a truth which is generally admitted, and may be 
proved ; it must therefore exist in a state of consci- 
ousness throughout eternity. The sensations, to 
which we must submit hereafter, must be either 
pleasant or painful ; for, into no other forms can con- 
sciousness be resolved. This, therefore, brings im- 
mediately to our view a state of future punishments 
and rewards. 

To investigate the nature of those punishments 
and rewards, which await the guilty and the righte- 
ous, when this life shall be lost and swallowed up in 
another ; is remote from my design. The eviden- 
ces which must support these facts may be drawn 
from the nature and attributes of God, when consi- 
dered in connection with vice and virtue ; so that 
the moral attributes of the Deity co-operate with his 
immutability, to ensure a state of retribution in an- 
other life. It will be sufficient for my present pur- 
pose, to presume that a state of felicity awaits the 
souls of the righteous, and from this ground will 



66 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

arise some important evidence, that all moral evil 
must be done away from the human soul, before it 
can possibly inherit the kingdom of God. 

There are few abstract truths, which will admit 
of more satisfactory evidence than this, that two 
natural extremes cannot possibly meet together. 
The terms themselves presume a situation, which 
never can be overcome ; and even if it were allowed 
possible that a union could be accomplished, they 
would be no longer those extremes which are pre. 
sumedbythe supposition. In short, the feelings 
of human nature, are strong indications in favour 
of a future state ; and the vices which go unpunish- 
ed, and the virtues which go unrewarded here, are 
powerful arguments to prove it sure. The hopes 
and fears which inhabit the human bosom, plainly 
point to distinct abodes ; and ensure those rewards 
and punishments, which are strictly analogous to 
virtue and vice, and to the total sum and aggregate 
nature of human actions here below. 

Whatever the abstract nature of that happiness 
may be, which we hope to enjoy beyond the grave, 
it is certain that it must be derived from God ; his 
perfections being the only fountain of excellence to 
which all created beings must apply ; for equally 
certain it is, that in him ive live^ and move, and have 
our being. And since God, from his exalted and 
immutable perfections can communicate that only, 
which is congenial to his nature, we cannot avoid 
concluding, that there must be an agreement be- 
tween him who confers, and the object which re- 
ceives the felicity conferred. For, since the felicity 



Sect. 1.1 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 67 

which is conferred by God must be perfectly con- 
sistent with his nature ; it can only find repose i^ 
that bosom which has received the impression of 
the divine image. Without this likeness, there can 
be no union ; where there is no union, there can 
be no concord ; and where there is no concord, 
there must be infelicity and woe. 

But, since God is and must be necessarily devoid 
of all moral evil ; and, since man in his present con- 
dition is under its influence and dominion ; the con- 
sequence is inevitable, that an agreement under 
these circumstances can have no existence. It 
must therefore follow, that either God or man must 
change in nature, before they can possibly meet to- 
gether. For certain it is, that those gratifications 
which are pleasing to man, in his present state, are 
such as God cannot possibly bestow, through the 
holiness and perfections of his nature ; while it is 
equally certain, that even the glories of heaven can 
communicate no felicity to man, through the cor- 
ruptions and depravity which reign in the human 
heart. And hence the necessity of a radical change 
before man can derive felicity from God. 

Now, since God is both immutable and perfect, 
it is evident that he can neither change, nor include 
moral evil in his nature ; and, since heaven is a 
place of happiness, to which the souls of the righte- 
ous shall be admitted ; and since felicity, under ex- 
isting circumstances, cannot be communicated ; the 
inevitable consequence is, that man must undergo 
a change. As therefore, mor^l evil is that, which 



68 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

has sunk man beneath his primitive rank in the 
scale of created excellency ; separated him from 
God, and thereby rendered him unfit for that felici- 
ty which he hopes to enjoy hereaficr ; so, the re- 
moval of moral evil must restore him to his primi- 
tive dignity and native grandeur ; and render him 
meet to be a partaker of that felicity, which the Al- 
mighty will confer in a future world. Hence then 
the certainty of future rewards demonstrates the ne- 
cessity and certainty, that, Jrom those who are ad- 
mitted to gtorij, all moral evil must be done away. 

If man, under the influence of moral evil, with 
all his passions and propensities unsubdued, were 
to be admitted into heaven, even heaven itself could 
confer upon him no felicity. 

" The mind is its own place, and of itself 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.'* 

For, as an agreement between the giver of happi- 
ness, and the receiver of it, must be necessary in 
order, to its pure enjoyment ; a previous qualifica- 
tion must be admitted, and must be attained. But 
as the influence of moral evil, is, under this consid- 
eration, presumed to be retained, no such qualifi- 
cation can be possessed ; and consequently, no feli- 
city can be enjoyed. As therefore, felicity is to be 
communicated in that celestial region, the necessary 
qualification for its possession must be obtained ; 
and as this cannot be where moral evil holds domin- 
ion, the plain consequence is, that moral evil must 
he done away. 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 69 

Man, in no station or mode of existence, can en- 
joy felicities which he has no appetites to relish. 
Neither, can the angry, the hostile and jarring dispo- 
sitions of human nature, obtain indulgence from 
such objects as heaven with all its glories can afford. 
For, could we conceive, that these unholy disposi- 
tions could receive gratification in the abodes of 
bliss; we must conceive that the most distant ex- 
tremes must blend together ; a supposition as repug- 
nant to our reason, as the possibility of confound- 
ing the north and south poles of the globe. As 
therefore, the felicities of heaven can never be enjoy- 
ed where moral evil holds dominion, because 
they are extremes which can never meet together ; 
and, as felicity must be communicated to those who 
shall inherit heaven ; it evidently follows, that moral 
evil must be annihilated in the human soul, before 
it can inherit the kingdom of God. 

If heaven, under circumstances which have been 
presumed, can yield felicity to man ; it must afford 
the means of intoxication to the intemperate, wealth 
to the miser, and licentious pleasures to the debau- 
chee ; it must afford fields of blood to the warrior, 
visionary aggrandisement to the ambitious, and 
hold out scenes of tem^ptation to the plunderers of 
mankind ; it must even gratify the most brutal and 
savage dispositions of human nature. Under such 
views, what are we to think of its constitution ? 
Wherein can it differ from this Aceldama, this 
** bedlam of the universe" which we inhabit ? How 
in such a case, and in such a region, can virtue be 



70 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

rewarded ! Even the vices which dishonour human 
nature, must be presumed to hold eternal triumph ; 
and the prospect of impunity, must, even here be- 
low, tend to sanction, and even dignify those actions 
which disgrace mankind. 

However absurd these sentiments may appear, 
such must be the state of heaven ; if moral evil can 
be permitted to enter ; so that even the grossness of 
these inferences becomes an evidence in favour of 
the general conclusion. For, as such scenes as we 
have inferred, cannot possibly exist in heaven ; 
since virtue must be rewarded there, and since 
nothing unholy, nothing unclean, nothing that ei- 
ther loveth or maketh a lie, can enter there ; we 
are fully assured, that mbral evil cannot inherit 
those abodes. The plain and inevitable consequence 
therefore is, that moral evil must be destroyed 
and done away. 

It has been already proved, in the preceding 
parts of this volume, that the dissolution of the hu- 
man body, the vwous calamities with which we 
are afflicted, together with all those natural evils 
which harass and torment mankind, have been 
occasioned by moral evil. And, from the proofs 
which have been adduced, we have concluded, 
that, if moral evil had not entered into the world, 
creation would have still retained its prestine state ; 
and consequently, that death itself, which is a nat- 
ural evil, would have been totally unknown. It 
has also been proved, in the preceding parts of this 
section, that, as a future state of happiness awaits 
the souls of the righteous, when they depar! this 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 71 

life, in which they will be recompensed for all their 
sufferings here below ; those qualifications, which 
are necessary for that enjoyment, must be previ- 
ously obtained. And since heaven is a state of pu- 
rity, which can admit of no alloy, the necessity of 
those qualifications becomes conspicuous, and en- 
forces the necessity that moral evil must be de* 
stroyed. 

Can then, those natural effects, which origi- 
nated in moral evil, which we have proved to be 
their primary cause, continue in existence when 
moral evil shall have been destroyed ? Or, can any, 
cause perpetuate natural evil besides that cause 
which primarily gave it birth. Surely these things 
appear impossible. For, if these effects can conti- 
nue in existence, when that cause which produced 
them shall have been done away ; they must be ef- 
fects and not effects, at the same time, which is a 
plain and palpable contradiction. For, as the cause 
of death and dissolution, is moral evil, and this 
cause in respect to all the righteous, must be done 
away ; it therefore follows, that if no natural effect 
can survive the cause which produced it, death and 
dissolution must cease, and the inevitable conse- 
quence is, that the human body must rise again from 
the grave. 

That no cause but moral evil, could occasion 
death, has been already proved, and we can have 
no conception that the power, through which it pro- 
duced these effects can be capable, either of trans- 
fer or delegation ; much less can we conceive that 
this power can be so bequeathed as to perpetuate 
these effects, when moral evil with which alone it 



72 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

originated, and from which it is inseparable, shall 
be totally destroyed. And where we even to pre- 
sume it possible, that the power which perpetuates 
death could continue when moral evil is destroyed, 
moral evil could no longer be considered as its ex- 
clusive cause. But, since the reverse of this has 
been already proved ; and, since a delegation of this 
power, is a supposition replete with absurdities ; 
the conclusion again returns upon us, that when mo- 
ral evil shall be destroyed, all its natural effects 
must cease ; and consequently that a resurrection 
of the body must take place. 

If death, and the dissolution of the human body, 
(which are effects evidently produced by moral evil) 
Can remain in existence after moral evil shall have 
been destroyed, it will be impossible for us to 
say from what cause this continuance of these ef- 
fects can flow. It cannot result from moral evil, 
because this is now destroyed by the supposition ; 
and the notion of a transfer of power to something 
else is too ridiculous even for serious refutation. 
And, since we can no more conceive that an effect 
can continue without a cause, than we can con- 
ceive it should have originated without cause ; and, 
since the cause in which the effect is presumed to 
have originc'ted is destroyed, and no transfer of pow- 
er can possibly take place, through which the con- 
tinuance of this effect can be supported, the con- 
iinuance itself vanishes from our sight ; and the 
consequence is, a resurrection of the human body 
from the confines of death. 

As the primary existence of the cause, was ne- 
cessary to the primary production of the effect ; so, 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 73 

the continuance of the cause must be necessary to 
the continuance of the effect. For, could we con- 
ceive that an effect could continue without an ade- 
quate cause ; we must of necessity make a contra- 
dictory supposition ; we must suppose it to be the 
continuance of an effect, and not the continuance of 
that effect at the same time, which is absolutely im- 
possible. As therefore, a contradiction cannot be 
admitted, and as no effect can continue without an 
adequate cause ; as the cause of death is moral evil, 
and this cause in all the righteous must be destroy- 
ed ; the effect must discontinue by a natural conse- 
quence, through the destruction of the cause, and 
issue in an event, which we have already contem- 
plated ; namely, the resurrection of the human bo- 
dy from the grave- 
That death is the effect of moral evil, has been 
already proved ; and consequently, that dissolution 
which is more immediately produced by death, must 
be attributed to the same primary cause. If there- 
fore, to presume that death can continue in exist- 
ence when moral evil is destroyed be contradictory, 
to imagine that dissolution can survive the annihi- 
lation of death must be equally absurd, since, in 
either case we must suppose that an effect survives 
the cause on which it is dependent for its 
own existence. But, since these suppositions 
are contradictory ; and impossible because contra- 
dictory ; since the certainty of future rewards en- 
sures the destruction of moral evil, and the destruc- 
tion of moral evil ensures the annihilation of death ; 
so the annihilation of death must ensure the anni- 
hilation of dissolution, and the annihilation of dis- 

M 



74 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IIL 

solution must cause human nature to rise from the 
abodes of death. 

If dissolution continue after moral evil and death 
shall have been both destroyed, it is evident that it 
could not have been produced by either, because 
no natural effect can survive its cause. But, this 
conclusion is contrary to the proofs we have already 
adduced ; and is perfectly irreconcileable to the im- 
mutability and moral justice of Gcd. Hence then, 
the same conclusion returns again upon us, name- 
ly, that as moral evil is the parent of that death, 
by which dissolution is more immediately produ- 
ced ; so, the removal of moral evil must finally 
lead to the destruction of dissolution as well as of 
that of death, and ultimately terminate in a resurrec- 
tion. For, since nothing but moral evil could pos- 
sibly have brought death into the world ; the remo- 
val of moral evil must necessarily extinguish those 
immediate and remote effects which ultimately de- 
pend upon it for their existence, and which can be 
supported in existence by no other cause. 

It may, perhaps, to the reasoning which I have 
advanced be objected thus. *' That if moral evil be 
the caubc of death, and moral evil be removed from 
the righteous in the present life, no necessity can 
remain why death should ever take place. " In an- 
swer to this objection, I reply, that though moral 
evil will be the cause of death, and though it be re- 
moved from the soul of every genuine Christain on 
this side eternity ; yet death must necessarily take 
place, unless a miraculous interposition of divine 
power should invert the order of nature, and dc- 



Sect. L] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 75 

stroy her laws, to prevent the fact. And my rea- 
sons for these assertions are comprised in the fol- 
lowing paragraph. 

It has been already admitted, that all bodies com- 
pounded of matter, since it has been divided into ele- 
ments, have within them a natural tendency to de- 
cay. Such was, and such still is the material part 
of man. To prevent this effect from. taking place, 
God placed in the garden of Eden, the ti'ec of life, 
the efficacy of which counteracted that tendency 
which the parts of the human body possessed. And 
the removal of this tree, which took place immedi- 
ately after the introduction of moral evil, annihi- 
lating the only preventative to our dissolution, left 
the component parts of our body to follow that ten- 
dency, which then was, and still is inseparable from 
all terrestrial bodies, compounded of different ele- 
ments. Thus then, though moral evil shall be de- 
stroyed, the destruction of moral evil cannot restore 
the tree of life ; and consequently, cannot prevent 
that inevitable consequence from taking place, which 
necessarily results in the present state of things from 
those elementary parts of which we are formed. 
But when the present state of things shall pass away, 
and this universe shall be dissolved, when those 
•elements into which all matter is now divided, shall 
mingle in one common mass, and all nature shall 
undergo a grand revolution ; then those lo^l ten- 
dencies which now exist, shall either rest in the 
sphere of action for which they were created ; or, 
having filled up the stations for v/hich they were 



76 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

destined, shall expire and be found no more. And 
hence, under present circumstances, death must 
take place upon all, even though moral evil should 
be done away. 

The important question which we have now be- 
fore us, is not w hether death shall continue to add 
new victims to his gloomy shrine when moral evil 
shall be done *a way; but whether even dissolution 
shall not be destroyed. If the former only had 
been proposed for our decision, no proof would 
have been necessary ; for as nothing can act which 
is deprived of being, it is certain that the instant 
death is destroyed, nothing can afterward suffer 
from its power. But if death and the dissolution of 
soul and body, be in the abstract the same, the de- 
struction of death must imply the destruction of 
dissolution, which is a distinct idea. In the former 
case, the mere negation of dying would be all 
that could be intended, which is not the point to be 
proved ; but in the latter, if death and dissolution 
be the same, the annihilation of death must be the 
annihilation of dissolution. And, when that disso- 
lution which is implied in death, shall be destroyed, 
the inevitable consequence must be the resurrection 
of the human body from the grave. But this topic 
will be pursued in a future section. 

If either the immediate or remote effects of mo- 
ral evil be supposed to continue for ever, in these 
subjects from v»^hich all moral evil is done aw^ay ; I 
would ask upon what cause or causes do these ef- 
fects depend for their existence ? Every effect must 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 77 

have a cause, not only to produce but to continue it ; 
a cause which is adequate to its production and its 
continuance, and which must remain in union with 
the effect which it produced and which continues. 
Unless we admit those general propositions, the 
terms cause and effect become unintelligible ; and are 
devoid of meaning. But, as moral evil is the cause 
of death, and the primary cause of all those effects 
which are included in and result from it, whenever 
moral evil shall be done away, we behold the anni- 
hilation of the primary cause upon which death and 
all the consequences of death depend. And there- 
fore, if we admit that the natural effects of moral 
evil continue after their primary cause shall have 
been totally destroyed, we at once break down all 
connection between cause and effect ; and by so do- 
ing we make an effect, which by its name we ac^. 
knowledge to be dependent, to continue through 
eternity, while we suppose the cause which is de- 
pendent, to be perfectly annihilated. 

Can any effect, I would ask, continue in exist- 
ence without a cause ? This surely must be impos- 
sible. Can any thing result from a cause, w^hich is 
admitted to be extinct ? This must be impossible 
as the other. Can any thing, which has in itself 
no independent existence, derive a continuance of 
existence from itself? This cannot possibly be. In 
admitting the first of these cases, we must presume 
wdiat we have denominated an effect, to be an effect 
and not an effect at the same time, which is a 
plain contradiction. In admitting the seco?id case 



78 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IIi: 

we must presume that a cause can act after it is 
deprived of being, which is also a contradiction. 
And in admitting the third case, we must ascribe 
independence to an effect, which from its name and 
nature, must be destitute of it ; which is in effect 
denominating it to be independent, and not inde- 
pendent at the same time. Hence then, conclude, 
that as nothing in the ^first place^ can be an effect 
without a cause, and in the second, that no cause 
can act when it is devoid of being, and that in the 
tlw'd case nothing can derive from itself an inde- 
pendence which it does not possess ; no such case 
can possibly exist. And therefore, as the dissolu- 
tion of the human body must be precisely in the 
situation of this effect, which under these circum- 
stances can have no existence ; it must necessarily 
cease through the destruction of moral evil, and the 
human body must be awakened fi'om the sleep of 
death. 

It is certain that no contact can exist between an 
effect which is in being, and a cause which is not. 
For, if such a contact can exist, then entity must 
depend upon nonentity for the continuance of its 
existence, which is self-evident absurdity. But, 
since no such contact can possibly exist, all de- 
pendence must, of necessity, be annihilated ; and 
consequently, the door of immortality must be 
opened to the human body, though now moulder- 
ing in the tomb. 

Whether the cause of our dissolution be death 
or moral evil, certain it is, that some cause must be 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 79 

admitted ; and whether it be the former or the lat- 
ter, while either continues in existence, we behold 
the dissolution of the human body, and the primary 
cause which produced it, in contact with each 
other. But, when death and moral evil are de- 
stroyed, unless the body rise again from the grave, 
we must suppose a change to take place in the 
condition of the dead, while their continuance in 
the grave will prove their condition to be precisely 
the same that it was before death and moral evil 
were destroyed. But, as it is impossible for any 
condition to be the same while it is different from 
what it was before, it will evidently follow, unless 
%ve admit a contradiction, that the dead must be 
restored to future life. But, this conclusion must 
finally depend upon the certainty that a contradic- 
tion must be the reverse. 

The change which is presumed, arises from the 
distinction that must be between the existence and 
extinction of the cause of our dissolution. For, the 
state of any given being, whilst the cause of that 
state is in existence, can never be precisely the 
same, as when the cause of that state is totally de- 
stroyed. For as, while in contact with its cause, 
the state of this being must be an effect resulting 
immediately from that cause, so the total removal 
of this cause must make the state of this being cease 
from being an effect thus resulting ; and by its con- 
tinuance in existence, while the cause on which it 
depended is no more, it must be presumed to have 
acquired an independence. The passing from de- 



80 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI, 

pendence to independence, must therefore amount 
to a positive change. But if, under these circum- 
stances, the dead rise not, their continuing in a 
state of corruption, after the cause of that corrup- 
tion shall have been done away, will prove their 
state to be precisely the same, as though the 
cause of that state were in actual existence. And 
unless we admit a resurrection of the body, we 
shall be driven to the conchision, that the removal 
of the cause of dissolution is no removal of it ; and 
that the state of the dead has undergone a change, 
from dependence to independence, while it remains 
precisely the same ; so that it must have undergone 
a change and not have undergone a change at the 
same time. 

If the removal of the cause of any given effect, 
produce no change in the state of that effect, it must 
be the removal of the cause and the establishment 
of it at the same time, which is an evident contradic- 
tion ; that removal therefore, which produces no 
change, cannot be admitted. But if, in the case of 
the human body before us, the removal of the cause 
of dissolution produce a change, I would ask, in 
what does that change consist ? It cannot be in the 
condition of the body, if the dead rise not ; neither 
can it be in any change which the atoms can under- 
go. It cannot be in future hopes and fears, because 
a body devoid of life must be equally incapable of 
both. It cannot be in the dispersion of that gloom 
which hovers round their solitary mansion ; for, to 
this the peaceable inhabitants are perfectly insen- 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 81 

sible. It cannot be in any future destiny which 
awaits the body ; for, if the cause of dissolution had 
never been removed, the body could only continue 
insensible for ever ; and, if it rise not from the 
grave, the period of its destiny is precisely the 
same. Nothing therefore, can be presumed, which 
can eirher increase the horrors of the grave, or me- 
liorate the condition of the lifeless atoms. In fine, 
I can discover no change in the state of the human 
body, in consequence of the removc;! of the cause 
of its dissolution, unless we admit a resurrection 
from the grave ; but, on the contrary, unless we 
admit that change which the resurrection implies, 
the supposition involves in it this absurdity, that the 
state of the body is changed, and is not changed at 
the same time. As, therefore, this contradiction 
cannot be admitted into our reasonings; some 
change in the state of the dead must be acknow- 
ledged. But as no change can be conceived, while 
the body continues mouldering in the tomb, the ar- 
gument gives us all the evidence of moral certainty, 
that the human body must rise again from the 
grave. 

That natural evil is either a consequence or an 
effect of that which is moral, is a point which is at 
once sanctioned by general consent, and founded 
upon fact ; and few are to be found who will attempt 
to dispute its certainty. In the lists of natural evil, 
death must be allowed to bear a distinguishing rank» 
If then all natural evil be either a consequence or 
an effect of that which is moral ; deatjx itself must 

N 



fi2 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI. 

depend for its continuance upon the continuance 
of moral evil. Consequently, when moral evil shall 
be done away, death itself must cease to have a be- 
ing ; because natural evil is dependant upon that 
which is moral. As therefore, the destruction of 
moral evil, must issue in the destruction of death ; so 
the destruction of death must issue in the destruction 
of those subordinate effects which result from it. 
And as the dissolution of the body is one of these 
effects which result from death, dissolution must be 
done away ; when therefore, dissolution shall be de- 
stroyed, the human body must rise into newness of 
life, and partake of immortality. 

Thus then, since the annihilation of moral evil 
must involve the destruction of death, and the de- 
struction of those modes which the natural effects 
of death assume ; we have an assurance of a future 
resurrection, established upon the most unquestion- 
able evidence that moral certainty can afford. For, 
as death is a natural evil, and depends upon moral 
evil for its existence ; so those natural effects which 
result from death, must depend upon death for their 
existence ; in the same manner as death itself de- 
pends upon moral evil for all that being which it 
possesses. And as all those natural effects which 
result from death, must, together with death, be 
included in the general term natural evil, it follows, 
that when natural evil shall be destroyed, these na- 
tural effects and consequences must expire ; and 
the human body, escaping the embrace of death, 
which sliall be no more, must quit the confines of 
the tomb. 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. ei 

Admitting then that natural evil is the effect of 
that which is moral, of which the dissolution of our 
bodies must be no inconsiderable part ; to evade 
the force of the preceding argument, it must be 
asserted, that *' natural evil can survive the cause 
zvhich first called it into being, "^^ To this objection 
I have already replied. And I have only again to 
repeat, that if the objection be admitted, we must 
suppose an eifect to continue in existence without a 
cause ; which involves this contradiction, that it is 
an effect, and not an effect at the same time. As, 
therefore, natural evil cannot survive its cause ; it 
follows, that whenever moral evil shall be extracted 
from human nature, then, dissolution as well as 
death, both of which are branches, must expire. 

As therefore, the immortality of the human soul, 
and the certainty of those rewards which await the 
souls of the righteous, must be admitted, from evi- 
dences of the most indubitable nature ; that moral 
evil must be extracted from them is a truth capa- 
ble of the most decisive proof ; since such souls 
must be incapable of felicity, whilst tainted with 
moral evil, even if they should be admitted to a re- 
gion of unsullied glory. As, therefore, moral evil 
must be separated from human nature, in order that 
it may be rendered capable of entering into a state 
of consummate joy ; and as natural evil cannot con- 
tinue to exist, when moral evil is destroyed, because 
it involves a contradiction, considerable weight is 
hereby added to this branch of moral evidence. For, 
since it cannot be denied that the separation of the 



84, IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Ill, 

soul and body by death, and the subsequent dissolu- 
tion of the component parts of the body are branch- 
es of natural evil, which must perish when moral 
evil is done away ; we are furnished with all the 
evidence which the subject itself seems capable of 
admitting, that the bodies of all the righteous shall 
come forth in a glorious resurrection. 

That the arguments adduced in this section, are 
partial in their application, I am well aware. They 
have been advanced in favour of the resurrection of 
the righteous only; and if their validity in this par- 
tial application be admitted, I ask for nothing more. 
The righteous and the wicked comprehend the 
whole of the human race. In proof that the bodies 
of the unrighteous shall rise again, some arguments 
will be adduced hereafter, from that immutable 
justice which is inseparable from God. It is of no 
inconsiderable importance in the present stage of 
my discussion, for us to know, that moral evil and 
natural evil, are so intimately connected together, 
that when the former is done away, the latter must 
expire; and that from hence the reverse may with 
justice be inferred. Nati^ral evil may, in the pro- 
gress of its continuance, be changed in the modes 
of its app'ication and existence ; but, as it is natu- 
rally dependent upon moral evil for its being, we 
may rest assured, that while moral evil continues 
in existence, natural evil, in some or other of its 
modes, must continue undestroyed. 

But, in the righteous, all natural evil must be 
overcome, before they can inherit the kingdom pre* 



Sec. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. &s 

pared for them before the foundation of the world. 
Nevertheless, for the accomplishment of these vast 
and all important realities, we must direct our views 
to that eventful asra, when death shall be forever 
slain, or swallowed up in eternal victory. Ihen, 
when natural evil shall be removed, when dissolu- 
tion shall be destroyed, and the will of man shall be 
lost in the will of God ; the bodies of all his saints 
.shall come forth in glory and immortality, and every 
vestige of human degradation shall be for ever done 
away. 

SECTION II. 

Arguments teiiding to prove^ that the Annihilation 
oj Moral Evil^ can only be effected bi/ a Vicari- 
ous Sacrifice. 

It has been observed in the preceding section, 
that no effect can either commence existence, or 
continue it when begun, without a cause. And that 
this cause, to which any effect is justly ascribed, 
must be adequate to the production of it, may be 
reasonably esteemed as first principles cf philoso- 
phy, I presume no one will dispute. To deny 
either of these points, will involve us in absurdi- 
ties and contradictions, which it is useless to name. 

The arguments which have hitherto been ad- 
vanced in favour of the resurrection, have been 
chiefly founded upon the annihilation of death ; and 
the annihilation of death has been inferred from the 
presumed annihilation of moral evil. But, as the 



85 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Ill, 

cause through which moral evil can alone be de- 
stroyed, has been hitherto unexplored ; even the 
conclusions which we have drawn will be found in- 
conclusive and abortive, and all our former reason, 
ings must fall to the ground, unless we can be 
satisfied of this primary foundation, namely, that 
moral evil shall be actually done away. 

The various branches of evidence which conspire 
to establish the resurrection of the human body, 
have a mutual dependence upon one another ; and 
such is the nature of this dependence, that if only 
one link be broken, the whole chain must be de- 
stroyed. But, how closely soever the various parts, 
which constitute the general chain of argumentation, 
may adhere together ; there must be some perma- 
nent rock to which the first link must be united. 
It is on the stability of this rock that the perma- 
nency of the connective links must depend, to 
reach those remote conclusions which result from 
this harmony of parts ; and which, I have presum. 
ed in the case before us, to issue in the final resur- 
rection of the human bo^^ from the dead. 

That moral evil does exist, is a fact too obvi- 
ous to require any proof; and that it could not 
have existed in the primeval state of things, is a ne- 
cessary consequence which results from the nature 
and attributes of God. And certain it is, in order 
to the attainment of true felicity, that moral evil 
must be done away from man. 

The destruction of moral evil, is however, a point 
which has rather been assumed than proved ; and 
it has been assumed, from the state of heaven^ 



Sect. Il.J OP THE HUMAN BODY. at 

and the nature of those rewards which await the 
righteous in a future state of being. But, how 
the destruction of moral evil is to be effected, re- 
mains yet to be considered ; and the great question 
now before us is, To what cause can we attribute 
an effect so important ? On this cause must depend 
the happiness which awaits mankind beyond the 
grave ; and upon this cause must ultimately depend 
many of the principal proofs which we can adduce 
in favour of the resurrection of the body from the 
grave. It is a question, in which the christian and 
the unbeliever are alike interested ; and which in- 
volves difficulties which Christianity alone can solve, 
and solve only by admitting the vicarious sacrifice 
of Jesus Christ. 

That man in a state of innocency must have been 
entitled to the protection of God, cannot with any 
pretence of justice be denied ; because the reverse 
will involve the conduct of God in absurdities and 
contradictions. And it is equally certain, that when 
moral evil entered into the world and took posses- 
sion of the human heart, the relative situation of 
man to God. must have been considerably changed. 
The justice which was before engaged in this pro- 
tection and preservation, now enforced a claim of 
an opposite nature, and demanded that satisfaction 
which culprits are obliged to make to a violated law. 

Under these circumstances, all hopes of future 
felicity must have abandoned the human bosom, 
and man must have been placed at an infinite dis- 
tance from its possession, unless his hopes had been 
founded upon some principle distinct ffom that in- 



8d IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. 111. 

exorable justice, to which he had forfeited both his 
freedom and his life. For, since the utmost of his 
exertions could only have been available for the pre- 
sent moment, in his primeval state ; it is absurd to 
suppose, that in his lapsed condition, he could havQ 
acquired any additional qualifications, or new pow- 
ers to exert in the cause of virtue. Were we to 
admit this, we should be driven to this strange con- 
elusion, that man, immediately after the introduc- 
tion of moral evil, was a lapsed being and not a 
lapsed being at the same time. But, as such con- 
tradiction never can be admitted, it plainly follows, 
that all human claims to protection were forfeited to 
divine justice; the relative situation of man as to 
his maker, must therefore have undergone a consid- 
erable change. 

If, however, on the contrary, v/hile we admit 
the existence of moral evil, we suppose that the 
relative situation of man was not changed by its 
introduction ; we reduce moral evil to a nonentity. 
And, from admitting its existence, while we ex- 
clude that change in man, which is essential to its 
being, and by which its existence can be known ; 
we are forced to suppose that moral evil exists and 
does not exist at the same time. And, as all those 
principles which involve contradictions must neces- 
sarily be false ; it plainly follows that the relative 
situation of man must have been considerably chang- 
ed by the introduction of moral evil into the world, 
since the reverse includes a contradiction. And, 
as his lapsed state could not possibly have confer- 
red upon him any new powers of exertion in the 



Sect. IL] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 89 

cause of holiness and virtue ; he could neither ac* 
complish his own restoration, nor claim it from that 
justice, to which he durst not make any appeal. Ic 
therefore follows, that the restoration of man to 
holiness and happiness, must have arisen from a 
cause distinct from that of justice, which was bound 
to protect him while he continued in a state of inno- 
cence ; a cause, which, under no circumstances 
whatever, could possibly reside in man. 

We can, perhaps, have no conception how any 
thing can be capabk^ of softening the rigours of jus- 
tice, except that principle of divine mercy, which 
we are assured must reside in God. 

But here a new difficulty occurs. For, although 
both justice and mercy be admitted to res.de in 
God; yet, how the interference of mercy could sup- 
plant the demands of justice or abrogate its claims, 
are points of difficulty, which, abstractedly, from 
the atonement, we could never comprehend. 

If justice would voluntarily relinquish its claims, 
without an equivalent, to make room for the opera- 
tions of mercy ; it must follow that God could not 
be necessarily, but only arbitrarily just. And the 
moment that we admit that God is not necessarily 
just, that very moment we annihilate one of his es- 
sential attributes, and undeify his nature. For, if 
God in any given period of duration, either of time 
or eternity, can relinquish his justice, in that very 
period we must behold him without it. If there- 
fore, omnipotence can exist through one hour, 
without justice, it can exist through two, for the 
same reason ; and that which can exist thus through 

o 



90 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

two hours can consequently exist thus forever ; and 
in this case we must admit, that justice is not an 
essential attribute of God. But, as those princi- 
ples which lead to undeify his nature, or to annihi- 
late his attributes, must certainly be false ; it fol- 
lows, that justice must be an essential attribute of 
the divine nature, and therefore God must neces- 
sarily be just. And, as God is and must be neces- 
sarily just; it follows with the most unquestionable 
certainty, that the claims of justice cannot be relin- 
quished without an equivalent, either in time or in 
eternity. And, if justice, without an equivalent, 
cannot relinquish its clams ; no room can be found 
for the operations of mercy, though it be admitted 
that it did exist and reside in God. 

Neither can it be supposed, that the claims of 
justice can be supplanted by the designs of mercy. 
For could we suppose the case before us possible, 
without a vicarious sacrifice ; the attributes of God 
must be presumed to act in hostility to one another. 
If the mercy of God should attempt to supplant his 
justice ; ihe attempt must be successful or it must 
not. If it be successful, the success of mercy will 
prove the imbecility of justice; and if unsuc- 
cessful, that want of success will fully demon- 
strate the futility of the attempt; and in either 
case, it will be demonstrated that God is not 
possessed of all possible perfections. Thus then, 
while we, from his nature and attributes, admit the 
existence of the divine perfections, even while we 
presume that his mercy can supplant justice ; we 
must suppose that God is possessed of all possible 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 91 

perfection, and yet not possessed of it at the same 
time. 

If the mercy of God can overcome his justice in 
one instance, nothing can hinder it from overcoming 
the divine justice in all. And, if the divine justice 
may be totally overcome, while the essence of God 
remains entire ; it follows from this supposition also 
that justice is not essential to the divine nature. 

If mercy can counteract the claims of justice, I 
would ask, does the essence of God remain entire, 
or is it destroyed ? If the essence of God remain, 
while the claims of justice are counteracted by mer- 
cy, it is evident that justice is not an essential attri- 
bute of his nature ; because the essence is presumed 
to remain, when this attribute is done away. But if, 
on the contrary, his essence be destroyed by the 
removal of his justice, we must, by allowing the 
operation of his mercy, suppose the existence of 
God to continue after we have supposed his essence 
to be destroyed. Hence then this conclusion follows, 
from each supposition which we have made ; name- 
ly, whether we presume the divine essence to re- 
main or to be destroyed, that the mind is conducted 
in either case to a palpable contradiction. Thus if 
the essence of God remain, it must be an essence 
without justice ; but certain it is, that an essence 
which is devoid of justice cannot be the essence of 
God : here then wc have the divine essence and not 
the divine essence at the same time. But if, on the 
contrary, the essence of God be destroyed, by the 
removal of his justice, through his mercy ; we ad- 



9^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI. 

itiit the divine existence without the divine essence. 
As therefore these contradictions are equal on each 
side, it must finally follow, that justice cannot be 
supplanted by mercy, wiihout a vicarious sacrifice, 
any more than justice can relinquish its claims, 
without a forfeiture of its name and nature. 

As therefore justice cannot relinquish its claims, 
jior mercy snatch the culprit from its hands ; be- 
cause in the former case, God must cease to bene- 
cessa ily just, and in the latter, that power which 
is presumed to be infinite must be overcome ; since 
God can neither act contrarily to himself, nor suf^ 
fer his attributes to move in hostility towards one 
another ; it follows with the most decisive certainty, 
that justice and mtrcy can never meet togethtr in 
the same subject, without that medium which the 
gospel liolds forth, in the vicarious sacrifice of the 
Saviour of the world. But, through the mediation 
of the atonement, the whole face of things assumes 
a different aspect. We there plainly discover how 
God can at once be Just, ajid the jastifitr oj him 
that bclievcth in Jesus. Through this sacrifice, 
the order of heaven and earth appears again to re^ 
vive ; and we behold in contemplation, another 
Eden descending from the skies, to bless mankind 
and renovate the world. 

Whatever may be said in favour of the human 
powers, or of the dignity of human nature; we 
never can suppose, wiihout admitting an absurdity, 
that any being which is wholly polluted can renovate 
itself. Such a notion carries with it its own refuta- 
tion, etnd includes within it, irreconcileable sup» 



Sect. II.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 93 

positions which we cannot possibly admit. For i£ 
any given being that is wholly polluted, can be pre- 
sumed to renovate itself, renovation must begin in 
some polluted part ; because that which is either 
wholly corrupted in a natural sense, or polluted in 
one that is moral, can include nothing but corrup- 
tion and pollution in its nature. Alid, to suppose 
that which is wholly corrupted or polluted, can pro- 
duce a renovation in itself, is to suppose that corrup- 
tion can beget incorruption, and that pollution can 
beget purity. We must suppose it to act in oppo- 
sition to itself, and to produce an effect which can- 
not be included within its nature, which is a palpable 
contradiction. For, as no cause can produce an 
effect, which is the reverse of itself, and which it has 
not the power of producing ; so, nothing can result 
from any given principle, which is not virtually in- 
cluded in its nature. And, as a power to renovate, 
cannot be included in any nature that is wholly des- 
titute of purity, and therefore destitute of this pow- 
er ; it must follow, that the renovation of human 
nature, as well as its reconciliation to God must arise 
from some extrinsic cause. And certain it is, that 
that cause which influences nature, without being, 
included within it, and influences it so as to produce 
its renovation, must be supernatural, and must 
therefore come from God. 

Whatever the nature of this influence or the mode 
of its operation may be, we are satisfactorily assur- 
ed that it must communicate itself to man, in order 
to produce those effects, which a renovation im- 
plies, and which we ascribe to its sacred energy, 



94 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Ill; 

Without this, it is no longer influence ; and indeed 
an uncommunicated or uninfluencing influence, is a 
contradiction in terms. But, since influence and 
not the absence of it, is the point under present con- 
sideration, its existence must necessarily be ad- 
mitied ; and therefore it follows, with unquestionable 
certainty, that some mode of communication must 
also exist, through which it imparts its renovating 
energies to the internal and perceptive powers of the 
human soul. And whether we attribute this in- 
fluence to divine mercv^ to love, to tlie grace of 
God, or to the operation of his Holy Spirit, the 
final result will be the same ; and the regeneration 
of the human race must be attributed to an agency 
as well as energy which resides not in man.* 

* It has been hinted by some of my respectable friends, to 
whom the subject of this Essay was but imperfectly Vnown, 
« That all arguments which may be drawn from hunr*an rea- 
son, in favour of the resurrection of the body, will have a ten- 
dency to set aside the efficacy of the atonement, and those 
consequent blessings which are ascribed by all true Christians 
to the grace of God, manifested through Jesus Christ." To 
this objection I beg leave to offer a few thoughts. 

From what has been written in this Section, I flatter myself 
that every intelligent reader, will not only be satisfied that I 
have no design to set aside the atonement, but that I make it 
the ground-work of the whole fabric which I am attempting to 
raise. Strike off the atonement, and you deprive me of my 
only assurance that moral evil shall ever be destroyed. Now, 
if moral evil be not destroyed, then natural evil, which results 
from it, cannot be discontinued ; and, in this case, I can have 
no proof that death, which as a considerable branch of natural 
evil, shall be annihilated ; and if death be not annihilated, I can 
have no reason whatever to hope, either that dissolution shall 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 95 

As therefore those arguments which have been 
advanced in favour of the resurrection, have been 
founded upon the destruction of death, while the de- 
be done away, or that a resurrection of the body shall take 
place. 

Thus are the different parts of the chain of evidence linked 
together. Instead, therefore, of undermining the truth and 
efficacy of the atonement, or attempting to set it aside, it must 
be for the interest of my present work, to see it established 
upon the most immovable basis ; for, to the atonement all my 
arguments, from whatever sources they may be drawn, either 
directly or indirectly must ultimately appeal. 

In addition to the above objection, it has been furthermore 
observed by some, " that if the doctrine of a resurrection be 
revealed in scripture, all attempts to support the fact by ab- 
stract reasoning, must indirectly call in question the veracity of 
revelation ; and, that all such arguments must be both unne- 
cessary and injurious." To this objection also, I must beg 
leave to offer a few words, because I have no conception how, 
either the authority or authenticity of the Bible can be weak- 
ened by being supported by those collateral evidences, which 
the book of nature yields. 

With some, it has been thought to be a thing incredible that 
God should raise the dead ; and with others, the thing itself 
has been deemed to be impossible. And we are well assured, 
that where any given fact is proposed to our belief, which ap- 
pears either incredible, or impossible, no genuine assent can be 
yielded to it by a rational and well-informed mind. Because, 
according to the incredibility or impossibility of the fact pro- 
posed, our assent must be proportionably weakened, till, per- 
haps, the evidence in its favour will become insufficient to pro- 
duce conviction. 

An attempt, therefore, to clear the important fact before us, 
from the incredibility or impossibility which is supposed to be 
included in its nature, can neither be unnecessary nor injurious 
to the cause of truth, but must serve to elucidate and confirm 
it, since we are thereby presented with a train of collateral evi- 



96 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

striiction of death has been inferred from the anni- 
hilation of moral evil, so the annihilation of moral 
evil must be founded upon the redemption wrought 

dence which is designed to act in concert with the authority of 
revelation. On this ground, the conviction which the mind 
receives, arises from two distinct sources, and is at once ra- 
tional and divine. It is rational, because it is extricated from 
those embarrassments which occasionally lay an embargo on 
belief; and it is divine, because revealed by the unerring Spirit 
of truth. The advantages. therefoT^e, which we derive from ra- 
tional argument, when it can be adduced in ftivour of facts which 
appear incomprehensible to some, and impossible to others, 
must be of considerable weight- On this ground, that incredi- 
bility which owes its origin to incomprehensibility loses all 
its force ; and the fact, by such elucidation, is brought down 
to a level with those, with which incredibility never could asso- 
ciate. Rational argument must, therefore be of considerable 
use to the sceptical part of mankind ; and cannot be wholly 
lost with those who admit the authenticity of revelation, since 
it tends to elucidate those facts which the word of God reveals, 
without unfolding their intepjral parts. 

But when, from this incredibility which some attach to fact 
and incident, we turn our thoughts to those who imagine the 
fact to be impossible ; the utility of rational argument assumes 
a more imperious tone ; and the fact itself, thus rescued from 
apparent contradictions and impossibilities, and thus supported, 
demands our assent on grounds of the most unquestionable 
nature. For, while we either perceive, or fancy that we per- 
ceive, any thing contradictory in the fact which is proposed to 
us for our belief; it is impossible that the mind of man can 
make that fact an object of faith, be it either rational or divine. 
No man can believe that to be true, which he perceives to be 
false and contradictory ; even though he could not disprove that 
the revelation which asserted it were divine. 

Hence then this general conclusion is obvious, that those ar- 
guments and reasonings which arc calculated to remove those 
apparent contradictions which the mind perceives, instead of 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. ^f 

out for man by Jesus Christ. And to this also we 
are indebted for those sacred influences which must 
of necessity be supernatural : through which the re- 
novation of our souls can alone be effected, and 
through which we hope for felicity beyond the grave. 
And after all our acute investigations and philoso- 
phical researches, it is to this redemption that we 
must ultimately look, for the stability of those argu- 
ments, which, though drawn from other sources, 
tend to prove the resurrection of the dead. 



SECTION IIL 

O71 the effects which may be expected to result from, 
the destruction of deaths when considered under 
the idea oj a person. 

When, in conformity to general usage, we con- 
sider death to have a real and personal existence, we 
can have no conception how he can be partially de- 
being injurious and unnecessary, are of incalculable service to 
the cause of Christianity. And, instead of deserving to be re- 
jected by us, they are entitled to our warmest approbation ; 
since by these means we furnish ourselves vdth weapons 
against those, who call in question the authority of that revelation 
to which we appeal. By thus taking our stand in one common 
ground with the adversaries of Christianity, the doctrine of the 
resurrection can be defended upon principles, from which they 
dare not dissent ; while the additional advantages which we 
derive from the written word, mark the cause which we haye 
espoused with the most decided superiority. 

p 



98 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IIL 

stroyed. That death must be destroyed when mo-» 
ral evil shall be done away, is a point which we haver 
already attempted to prove ; and if destroyed by 
the removal of moral evil from the righteous, the 
effect which result from that destruction must ex- 
tend to the utmost bounds of human nature ; and 
consequently, all those captive millions that have 
been held in his cold embrace, must be liberated 
from the house appointed for all living, through a 
general emancipation which the destruction of death 
must impart. 

In this view, however, a mere restoration to life 
and consciousness, has but little or no connection 
with a future state of happiness or woe. Rewards 
and punishments beyond the grave, depend not upon 
physical but moral causes ; and therefore must be 
considered in a distinct light from a simple restora- 
tion to life. The morality and immorality of hu- 
man actions, must relate to the moral and retribu- 
tive justice of God ; and the go^d and evil which 
are included in them, are points wi h which these 
natural causes have only a remote affinity. So that, 
although we admit that a resurrection of the bodies 
of the wicked shall take phice ; yet in this view it 
appears rather as a consequence of the resurrection 
of those of the righteous, who must be restored to 
life in the resurrection of the just ; than as an act 
which is primary and independent. 

Under these views, the life to which all human 
nature shall be restored, can be considered as noth- 
ing more than a restoration to a state of anima- 
tion, which is equally removed from an alliance 



Sec. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 99 

with punishment and reward. The only point, 
therefore, under present consideration is, whether 
or not any thing shall awaken the mouldering 
atoms from the torpid mass of matter, and call them 
again into a state of animation which shall never 
end. Rewards and punishments will, without all 
doubt, be administered individually, and every man 
must be accountable for himself; but physical causes 
act upon a wider principle, and are of universal 
application. 

That death shall be destroyed by the annihilation 
of moral evil, in all the righteous, has been already 
proved ; and as under this consideration, we have 
attributed to death a real and personal existence, 
our inquiry is almost reducible to this point, can 
death continue to exist, after he has been destroyed. 

In this view, which now lies before us, w^e must 
consider death in the character of an universal ty- 
rant, extending his gloomy empire over the captive 
millions of the human race. Now, under this con- 
sideration, should any cause arise, through which 
the tyrant should be dethroned, it will certainly 
fo low that all his captives must be released from his 
dark dominions. And, if this cause, which dis- 
solved the empire, should both dethrone and destroy 
the tyrant ; it must also follow, that all his active 
energy as well as dominions must forthwith be at 
an end. And, where the dominion and existence 
of a captor shall entirely cease, there all influence 
must necessarily discontinue ; and nothing further 
can be supposed in being to perpetuate the domi- 
nion of a tyrant, whose empire and person are both 



iOO IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

destroyed. For, were we to admit that the influ- 
ence of death could survive the existence of death, 
we must suppose it to be an effect without a cause ; 
and we must be obUged to conclude, that in point 
of duration, he survived his own existence, and put 
forth an energy after his being was destroyed. 

If the bodies of all the dead, rise not from the 
grave, when death is destroyed ; they must be de- 
tained by some power or they must not. If by 
some power, it is evident that this power must par- 
take of death ; because that which has no connec- 
tion with death, can never detain the fragments of 
the human body, in a state of dissolution, which is 
an effect of death* But to suppose, that the power 
of death can be inherited, when both his person and 
empire are presumed to be destroyed ; and that the 
power <.f death can be inherited by that which does 
not partake of death, will involve us in a complica- 
tion of contradictions. It therefore follows, that the 
instant we suppose the body to be detained in the 
grave, which is a state of death, by any active power, 
we at once attribute the detaining power to death ; 
while we detach it from him, through that destruc- 
tion which we had previously admitted ; and sup- 
pose a connexion to subsist between that which is, 
and that which we admij: to have been destroyed. 
In short, it is to attribute the detaining pcwer to 
death, and not to attribute it to him, at the same 
time ; whi. h is a palpable contradiction. 

But if, on the contrary, the bodies of the dead 
are detained in tiie grave by no power y the argu- 
:fiient defeats the purpose for which it was brought, 



Sect. III.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 101 

and operates in favour of a resurrection from the 
dead. For, since that which is divested of power 
can produce no eifects ; to suppose that the re. 
surrection of the body can be prevented through a 
mere negation, is to suppose it to be detained in 
the grave by a nonentity. Since, therefore, those 
bodies which are detained by nothing, must cer- 
tainly be free ; all external causes of their confine- 
ment must be done away ; and they must finally 
come forth to partake of that general discharge from 
the grave, which shall follow the destruction of 
death, and the annihilation of moral evil in all the 
saints of God. 

If death, who is still considered in a personal 
view, shall be destroyed by some cause ; both the 
benefits and evils which result from that destruction, 
must be of general application, and must extend to 
those individuals who had no share whatever in his 
destruction. 

To illustrate this, let us suppose a given case. 
Let us suppose that A extends an influence over C 
and Z), by which both Cand D are held in captivity 
to A. In this case, if A be destroyed by B, it 
must follow, even with demonstrative certainty, 
that A can never extend its influence over either C 
or Z), after it has been destroyed by B^ even though 
C and D did not concur in the destruction of A. 
And to suppose C and D to remain in captivity to 
Ay after A had been destroyed by B^ is to suppose 
that C and D remain in captivity to a nonentity ; 
and that they are now detained by a power which is 



102 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

admitted to be destroyed. But since that which is 
detained by nothing must be freed from all captivi- 
ty ; neither C nor Z), can any longer be detained in 
their stations, or prevented from starting up into 
immortal life. 

It will in this place probably be said : *' That 
though the influence of death should be withdrawn, 
yet it will not follow that the body must rise again. 
For, being in itself destitute of active energy, the 
mere removal of the influence of death will still 
leave it in a torpid state." This objection is of 
some weight, and requires much attention. 

We have already presumed, that death has ex- 
tended an influence over the human race, and we 
are now supposing this influence to be withdrawn ; 
therefore unless some considerable changes f' How 
the removal of this influence, influence and no influ- 
ence must be the same. But, to make hifluence 
and no influence to be the same, is even to reduce 
the influence of death to a nonentity. And, in addi- 
tion to this, it will follow, that if the influence of 
death be a mere nonentity, no necessity can appear 
either for its application or removal ; because nei- 
the the application nor the removal of any nonentity 
can poss'.bly affect that subject to which it is appli- 
ed, or produce those ejects which we attribute to 
death. In short, an influence Which may be either 
applied or withdrawn without producing any change, 
must be one that is uninfluenciug ; and an uninflu- 
encing influence is a contradiction in terms. 

That death, or something which we call death, 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY* 103 

in zvhat light soever toe may vieiv //, forms cithef 
the termination, nr an important epoch in human 
existence, is a truth which it is equally useless to 
prove or to deny. We behold it in those awful hours 
of human desolation, which daily take place ; and 
we discover as its invariable result, some of the 
most astonishing changes which the human body, 
according to our present organs of perception, can 
undergo. The depositaries of the dead, present 
us with a view of our departed ancestors ; and ev- 
ery charnel-house furnishes us with more than de- 
monstrative evidence, that those changes are cer- 
tain which we must shortly experience. 

In a preceding chapter and section, it has been 
contended that both death, and that dissolution of 
the body which succeeds to death, are the necessary 
and natural effects of moral evil ; and that they 
result as natural consequences from the removal of 
the tree of life. The progressive movements of 
these natural effects, we perceive through every 
stage of human being, from the cradle to the grave ; 
while in that subsequent dissolution of our bodies 
which succeeds to death, we trace the ultimate sep- 
aration of all their visible parts. 

But, how regular and progressive soever these 
effects may be produced, through the operation 
of moral evil, the primary cause of all ; we behold, 
in that awful moment, which lies on the verge of 
time, and divides it from the ocean of eternity, in 
Avhich the soul and body are separated from each 
other. An important crisis, which suddenly pro- 



104 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

duces an important change ! In this awful moment, 
life retires, and death usurps its place ; animation 
ceases in an instant ; vitality disappears, and the 
immaterial spirit, dislodged from its habitation, 
repairs immediately to a state of certainty, to anti- 
cipate the destiny that awaits it in another worid. 
By what peculiar application of power this change 
is wrought, is a question that forms no part of our 
present inquiry ; it is sufficient for us to know that 
this actually takes place, and that it cannot be ac 
complished by a mere nonentity. 

If then those changes to which we refer are in 
actual existence, and these changes cannot be pro- 
duced by a nonentity, because a nonentity can pro- 
duce no effects ; it follows that some active influx 
ence must be admitted to exist, to produce those 
changes which we discover taking place in death. 
In what light soever death may appear unto us, whe- 
ther with an existence that is positive, or only re- 
lative ; we have demonstrative evidence that the 
influence exercised on the occasion, is not ujiinflu- 
encing ; and consequently, we are satisfactorily as- 
sured that it cannot be a nonentity. 

Can then that influence, which produces such 
important changes, and which since it separates 
soul and body cannot be a nonentity, be finally 
removed by a nonentity ? or, can we possibly sup- 
pose that the mere removal of an entity is a non- 
entity in itself ? If so, action, and the reverse of 
action must be the same ; and entity and nonentity 
can have nothing to distinguish them from each 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 105 

Other ; in this case the removal of a positive influ- 
ence, and the removal of nothing must be alike, 
since the term nonentity will equally apply to both. 
And hence, since the conclusion undeniably follows, 
we may be assured that the principle itself must 
necessarily be false, which breaks down all distinc- 
tions between entity and nonentity, and blends to- 
gether without any discrimination, that which is, 
and that which is not. 

If then the r^;worc/of an entity, cannot be in itself 
a nonentity, nor effected by one ; some consider- 
able change must be produced by the application 
of that energy, through which the influence of death 
will be removed. And certain it is that the change 
will be considerable, in proportion to the magnitude 
of that influence which is removed by this adequate 
cause, whatever may be its nature. As therefore, 
the influence which death extended, produced those 
effects which we discover, in the separation of soul 
and body, and in the final dibsolution of the bodily 
parts, so this counteracting energy (which cannot 
be a nonentity) must produce effects contrenial to 
its own nature. And, as the destruction of death, 
is one of those efferts which must result from the 
removal of moral evil, the intrinsic nature of this 
counteracting energy must manifest itself in re- 
uniting the soul and body, when death shall be no 
more. Therefore, as the influence of death pro- 
duced by its operations, the dissolution of the hu- 
man body ; this adequate cause through which 
the influence of death is removed, must counter- 



106 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI. 

act the effects of that influence which it destroy Sj 
and finally result in the resurrection of the body 
from the grave, as an inevitable consequence. 

From these reasonings, which have been advanc- 
ed in the preceding paragraphs, it wil; follow by a 
natural inference, that when the influence is totally 
removed, the body cannot remain in a state of torpor. 
For, as that influence, through which the body had 
been reduced to a state of dissolution, could not be 
a nonentity ; so the cause through which this influ- 
ence is counteracted, must be admitted to have a 
similar state of existence ; because those effects, 
which we behold on death and dissolution, can only 
be counteracted by an active energy. Now, as all 
influence, in the nature of things, must produce some 
effect to be entitled to that appellation ; so this 
counteracting energy produces its eflfects also, in 
the removal of the influence of death. And, as the 
effects produced by the influence of death, were 
torpor and inactivity ; so the effects produced by 
this energy, through which the influence of death 
shall be removed, must be the reverse, which is a 
destruction of torpor and inactivity. They must 
therefore finally issue in a restoration of the body 
to animation and vigour ; and consequently, in a 
resurrection of the body from the sleep of death. 
For, as a separation of soul and body is the imme- 
diate eflfect of death (or probably is death itself) so 
the removal of it must be a reunion of both, since 
nothing less can be the reverse. And as, by its 
disunion from the soul, the body had been reduced 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 107 

to a state of corruption, and its component parts 
had been dissolved and separated from one another ; 
so, in order to effect the reunion of soul and body, 
the body must be restored tu life and activity ; and, 
since death is presumed to. be no more, life and 
activity must necessarily put on immortal vigour. 

The primary source of all our calamities, in what 
form soever they assail us, must be moral evil ; and 
the fatal succession which appears to take place in 
those changes which we undergo, seems to proceed 
in the following order. Moral evil produces death, 
death, which either produces, or consists in a sepa- 
ration of soul and body, produces torpor, and this 
finally issues in the separation of the component 
bodily parts. And whether we begin at the primary 
cause, which is moral evil, and trace onward to its 
remotest consequences, or begin at the remotest 
consequence, and trace upward to its primary cause, 
all our inquiries must centre in moral evil ; and we 
must view it as the real parent and legitimate source 
of all those natural evils^ and calamities which af- 
flict the human race. 

* On the moral co7isequences of moral evil, much may be 
said to distinguish them from those natural evils, of which I 
have spoken But, these consequences can have little ow no 
connection \vith those physical causes, which I have been at« 
tempting to investigate. They will undoubtedly remain as 
punishments to the individuals, to whom they apply ; but we can 
have no conception of any punishment which includes eternal 
inertness and unconscious inactivity. A resurrection therefore 
to immortal vigour, and perpetual life, seems to follow from 
the above principle ; and all individuals both good and badj 
must rise from their e^raves to receive their respective rewards. 



108 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 
SECTION IV. 

Oil the effects lohich may be expected to result from 
the annihitation of deaths ivhen considered as 
having only a relative existence. Probation con- 
fined to the present state. 

That the human b')dy in the moment of its sep- 
aration from its immortal partner, and also in all the 
subsequent stages of its dissolution, must undergo 

We are told expressly in the book of God, that all that are 
in the graves shall come forth ; they that have done good to the 
resurrection ofUfe^ and they that have done evil unto the resur- 
re'ction of damnation. 

The degrees of punishment due to lapsed intelligences, seem, 
however, to arise not from physical, but moral causes; and 
they must perpetually remain in close connection with the mo- 
ral justice of God. In what manner the morality and immo- 
rality of human actions are to be precisely estimated, is hardly 
a branch of the human province j it rather appears to be a 
question, which in all probability is too vast for the mind of 
jnan to grasp. It is sufficient, that God has pointed out both 
our privileges and our duties ; and we rest ourselves assured 
that the Judge of the whole earth, unable to act inconsistently 
■with his nature, must dispense justice with an impartial hand, 
and therefore must do right ; so that individuals as well as 
nations must ultimately acknowledge that rectitude, which 
regulates his ways, both in time and in eternity. And, though 
difficulties, which seem inexplicable, involve the moral econo- 
my of God, in his government of the universe ; yet he has in 
the midst of our blindness, communicated to us a sufficiency of 
information, through which we see that these difficulties which 
encircle us, arise not from the imperfection of his ways, but 
from the limited state of the human intellect, which must neces- 
sarily be unable to comprehend, or even to penetrate the com- 
pUcated parts of the amazing whole. 



$ect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 109 

considerable changes, it is needless in this place 
either to repeat or prove. The certainty of those 
facts, to which 1 allude, even more than demon- 
strate that death, or something to which we annex 
that desolating appellation, must have s^ me kind of 
existence ; because that which is a mere nonentity 
can never act ; and consequently, can never pro- 
duce those effects, which we behold in the dissolu- 
tion of the human frame. The existence of death 
must therefore be either real and personal^ or rela^ 
the and dependent^ or a mere privation ; these be- 
ing the only modes of possible existence which we 
can conceive. 

In the preceding section, we have supposed, in 
conformity to the general usage, and poetical de- 
scription, that death, in a personal capacity, extend- 
ed his destructive dominion over the human race ; 
and that his personal destruction, together with the 
ruin of his empire, must issue in the emancipation 
of those, on whom he had laid his iron hand. 

But, whether death have a real^ or only a relative 
existence, or whether we consider it in no other 
light than that of a mere privation ; the reasonings 
which have been brought to prove that it must be 
destroyed, when moral evil shall be done away, I 
flatter myself will equally apply ; and clearly prove 
in either case, that as moral evil must be its primary 
and its only source, the bounds of its duration must 
be fixed ; and that its total destruction is necessa- 
rily connected with a state of future rewards. A 
difference may indeed be produced in our abstract 



no IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

notion of death, by the additional idea of personifi- 
cation, which we have already introduced ; but 
when we divest our minds of those extraneous 
ideas, and consider death, abstractedly from all fo- 
reign circumstances, as a-separationqf soul and 
body^ and as the period of our existence here below ; 
the final result of our reasonings will be the same. 
And though the additional idea of person, should 
be omitted, all 1 have attributed to death will be 
applicable to the thing itr^elf ; and with the variation 
of a few circumstances, will be the same under 
every consideration in point of fact. 

That deatli is but relative^ and therefore destitute 
of all positive existence^ is with me a matter of full 
conviction ; and therefore personality is but a su- 
perfluous idea, purely imaginary, and totally inap- 
plicable in point of fact. The changes which hu- 
man nature, in the hour of departure, undergoes, 
are self- evident, and will therefore admit of no dis- 
pute ; it is the personification of death only which is 
not admitted, and which in reality can have no exist- 
ence. And therefore, whether the idea *of personifi- 
cation be retained or dismissed from our notion of 
death, as it has no necessary connection with those 
changes which death produces ; the influence which 
we have supposed, and which we constantly per- 
ceive, must remain precisely the same. And from 
hence it is evident, that whether the idea of person 
be real or only imaginary, the reasonings which I 
have advanced in favour of its being dependent upon 
moral evil for its existence, retain all their force. 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. Ill 

Since therefore, all that influence which death pos- 
sesses, and which it extends over the human body, is 
derived from moral evil ; death, whether real or relu" 
iive^ whether personal or only a mere prii afion, can 
have no further existence after moral evil is done 
away. 

I£ the existence of death be only relative, and 
therefore one with which the idea of person can 
have no connection, which must be admitted ; it 
will involve a contradiction to suppose that it can 
survive the cause' which gave it birth, and on which 
it must be dependent for its mode of existence. 
For, if we were to presume that it could survive the 
cause which gave it birth, and upon which it must 
continually depend ; it v, ill no longer be a relation^ 
but a positive being. And, to suppose that any 
thing can have a positive existence, which is admit- 
ted to be but a mere relation, is to suppose that it 
is a relation and not a relation at the same time. 
As therefore, the cause of death is moral evil, and 
moral evil must be destroyed to qualify the righte- 
ous for future rewards, as has been already proved ; 
the inevitable consequence must be the destruction 
of death ; and, as death has only a relative exis- 
tence, its destruction must finally issue in future 
life. 

Whatever exists relatively must, from the circum- 
stances of its being, necessarily be in a dependent 
state ; and we can no more conceive that a mere re- 
lation can exist abstractedly from that subject from 
which it derives -its being; than we can conceive a 
shadow to exist when its only occasion is totally de- 



1 12 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI. 

stroyed. When therefore, the parent of all natu- 
ral evil shall be removed, returning life must fill 
up the dreary blank, and human nature must again 
revive from the grave. 

Now will the case appear less favourable to the 
general resurrection of the human race, if we consi- 
der death, in the third place^ in the light of a mere 
privation. In short, a mere privation in this view, 
is but a branch of relative existence, and is there- 
fore connected with it. The same observations 
will apply in both cases, and the destruction of 
death, whether considered either as a mere relation 
or as a privation of any particular mode of life, must 
be the destruction of this relation, or that of the 
privation ; and consequently that which destroys 
my privation of life restores me again to animated 
existence, and banishes forever that privation in 
which my death consisted. 

If a privation of life date its origin from any given 
cause ; it is certain, whatever the nature of that 
cause may be, that it can only have a dependent 
kind of existence ; and that it can continue no lon- 
ger in existence, than it is supported by that cause, 
on which it depends. And, as the removal of that 
cause must destroy all dependencies, even the pri- 
vation of life must perish, and consequently, where 
the absence of privation of life is not to be found, 
life itself must be in a state of actual existence. It 
therefore follows, that the destruction of death must 
be a restoration unto life, and a restoration of human 
nature from the grave. 

Nor will it be of any avail to say that death itself 



Sect. IV.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. lU 

is but a mere negation.'*^ The destruction of a 
negation must be the p- eduction of positive being ; 
and it is only by the introduction of the latter, that 
the former can be effected. The removal of dark- 
ness is the introduction of light ; and we can no 
more conceive that a medium state can exist be- 
tween them, in which neither light nor darkness 
makes its appearance, and actually exists ; than 
we can conceive how any given portion of space 
can be deprived of being, or that matter can exist 
without figure or extension. As therefore there 
can be no medium, between the absence and pre^ 
seiice of any given subject or idea ; it follows, that 
the removal of the one must be the introduction of 
the other, just as the removal of light must be the 
introduction of darkness, as an inevitable conse- 
quence. If then the privation of life is the identi- 
cal act which introduces death, so the removal of 
this privation of life must be the removal of death ; 
and the removal of death must be that very identical 
act which restores to life. 

The removal of a negation must be the introduc- 
tion of the reverse ; without this no removal of a 
negation can be supposed. If then death be a ne- 
gation of life, and this negation be removed ; if the 
removal of this negation be the identical act which 
introduces the reverse ; it follows, that the removal 
of death is the removal of the absence of life, and 
is, consequently, the very act through which life 
must be restored. 

Now, since this privation of life, which has in 



U4 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. HI. 

numerous instances already taken place, and must 
ultimately take place upon all the descendants of 
Adam, must be occasioned by some cause ; it must 
necessarily be dependent ; because it will involve 
us in a contradiction, to suppose that a mere nega- 
tion can exist in any other mode. If therefore, the 
privation of life be dependent, and dependent upon 
that cause which firot called it into being; the 
destruction of this cause must necessarily occasion 
the destruction of this privation of life ; and the 
instant in which it perishes, it must give place to 
that life which is the reverse. For, since in the con- 
sideration now before us, the reverse of life must 
be no life or the privation of lije^ so, the annihila- 
tion of this no life^ or privation of life, must be the 
identical act which restores life ; it therefore fol- 
lows that the bodies of the dead must be set at lib- 
erty, and, freed from all captivity, must start forth 
into immortal life. 

But, how forcible soever these arguments and 
modes of reasoning may appear, like the subject 
to which they are applied ; they are purely of a 
dependent nature. The destruction of death has 
been presumed from first to last to depend upon 
the annihilation of moral evil ; and this has been 
uniformly inferred from the certainty of future 
rewards, the redemption of Jesus Christ, and the 
nature of that moral justice, which is at once immu- 
table and inseparable from God. There is, how- 
ever, another source of argument, to which we have 
hitherto made no application ; namely, the nature of 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. lis 

probationary exutencey which may probably afford 
us some additional assurances that moral evil must 
be done away. To this point we therefore beg 
leave to call the attention of the reader ; and with 
the remarks which may be made upon it we shall 
close the present section. 

That moral evil does exist, is a fact which, I flat- 
ter myself, few will have the hardihood to deny. 
And it is almost equally certain, from the analogy 
of the divine conduct, and from the nature of m-ral 
justice, that moral evil must be confined to the pre- 
sent probationary sate of existence, for beyond 
this we can have no conception that it can retain its 
present relation to man. 

Between a state of probation and a state of retri- 
bution, 1 know of no medmm. that can be supposed 
to exist to a conscious and reflecting being ; though 
it must be admitted, that these two states are as re- 
mote from each other as the mind of man can rea- 
sonably conceive. A state of retributi >n must be 
subsequent to a state of probation ; because it is 
founded upon a cognizance of those actions, which 
are presumed to have taken place in that previous 
probationary state of being. And hence arises the 
impossibility of our conceiving that these two dis- 
tinct states can exist together in regard to the same 
person^ in the same place, and at the same time. 
And, as a state of probation looks forward imme- 
diately to a state of retribution, and a state of retri- 
bution looks backward to that which was broba- 
tionary ; a medium condition, which partakes not 



116v IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

either of the former or of the latter, becomes impos- 
sible, and therefore can have no existence. 

If no state of retribution shall succeed to a state 
of probation : that being who is presumed to be a 
probationer must be a probationer for nothing, 
which involves a contradiction, by making that 
being a probationer and not a probationer at the 
same time. And if, on the contrary, we invert the 
order of our thoughts, and suppose that no proba- 
tionary state preceded a state of retribution; our idea 
of retribution is either destroyed or involved in a con- 
tradiction. For, to suppose a state of retribution 
which had not been preceded by a state of trial, is to 
suppose that it is a state of retribution, and not a 
state of retribution at the same time. Since there- 
fore, both of these cases will conduct us to a contra- 
xliction ; it follows, that these states must be respec- 
tively admitted in their own order, that the one can- 
not exist without the other, but that in the same 
subject they cannot possibly meet together. 

If man, while in a future state of retribution, be 
still in a state of probation ; it follows w^ith the most 
unquestionable certainty, that he must either be a 
probationer for nothing, or that his present state of 
retribution cannot be eternal ; because if we admit 
that state of retribution to be eternal, there can be 
nothing future to which probation can possibly refer. 
To suppose that a future state of retribution will 
not be eternal, is to suppose that the moral justice 
of God can visit abstractedly from its own conse- 
quences ; and that an attribute, which is essential 
to an infinite being, can be finite in its operations ; 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 117 

that successive duration can exist in eternity, and 
apply to Gcd when time shall be destroyed; — 
and that there can be a period in its successive du- 
ration, beyond which the moral and retributive jus- 
tice of God shall cease to operate. But, since 
these suppositions will, beyond that period in suc- 
cessive duration, leave moral and retributive justice, 
existini^ in theory, totally without the practical con- 
sequences which are inseparable from its nature ; 
which is supposing retributive justice to exist with- 
out retribution, which is justice and no justice at the 
same time ; it follows, that a state of retribution 
must necessarily be eternal. As therefore a state of 
retribution must be eternal ; and since no man can 
be a probationer while he is a probationer for no^ 
thing, because it involves a contradiction which has 
been already noticed ; it follows also, that a state 
of retribution and a state of probation cannot exist 
together in relation to the same person. And 
from hence we must infer, that, in relation to man, 
where retribution begins probation ends ; and there- 
fore death must necessarily be that point, which 
changes our mode of existence, and conducts us 
from a state of probation to that state of retribution 
which must be eternal. 

If the spirits of just men made perfect, enjoying 
the felicities of heaven, either before or after that a 
resurrection shall have taken place, be in a state of 
probation, a fall from the regions of glory must be 
possible ; because the idea for which the term pro* 
Ipation stands, implies a condition which leaves us 



118 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

free to depart from what is right. For, where 
there is no possibility to depart from good to evil 
in a probationary state, there no distinction between 
vice and virtue can practically be known ; and con- 
sequently a moral agent, thus plact d, can neither be 
subjected to any future punishment, nor undergo 
any preparation far any future rewiird. 

On the contrary, if we turn our thoughts from a 
state of happiness to a state of woe, while we retain 
the idea that a state of probation may exist to man 
beyond the grave ; it must then follow, that lapsed 
intelligences cannot be placed in the extreme of mi- 
sery, nor lodged beyond the reach of possible re- 
storation. Their state, however dreadful, must be 
exempted from despair, that last and greatest of hu- 
man ills ; nay, the supposition goes much further, 
and makes it possible that virtue may grow in the 
regions of eternal woe. For, certain it is, that as a 
state of probation implies the possibility of a de- 
parture from bliss, so the same state implies a pos- 
sibility, on the contrary, of a deliverence from woe. 
A state of probation looks forward to some retribu- 
tion, and if those who inherit future misery are pro- 
bationers, that state which they inherit cannot be 
eternal. But, since this conclusion is contrary to 
what has been already proved ; since it involves the 
moral and retributive justice of God, and leads im- 
mediately to those contradictions which have been 
already noticed ; we are compelled finally to con- 
clude, that no probationary state can survive the 



Sec. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 11? 

grave, or exist in respect to man in a state of future 
retribution. 

That the present is a state of probation, is per- 
haps a truth so clear, that all attempts to support it 
by argument must be deemed superfluous ; I shall 
therefore assume it as an admitted point. And, as 
probation looks into futurity for some retribution, 
we must be probationers for that life which lies be- 
yond the grave. In that state we must be ac- 
countable for the actions of the present life ; and 
receive that retribution which flows from the moral 
justice of God. As, therefore, retribution and pro- 
bation are incompatible with each other in the same 
state ; and, as in a future state retribution must 
exist ; It follows, that the present state of probation 
shall be done away to make room for those rewards 
and punishments, which are the moral consequences 
of our actions in the present life. 

That a state of probation is necessary to the ex- 
istence of moral evil, is so obvious, that the instant 
we suppose the contrary, we impute its origin to 
God. Betvi^een choice and necessity there can be 
no medium to man, in all those actions which are 
of a moral nature. Those which originate in the 
former, demonstrate a probationary state ; and 
those which originate in the latter ; can entitle the 
creature to neither praise nor blame. As, then, a 
probationary state must be done away, and must 
cease with our present state of being, we can have 
no conception that moral evil can continue to exist. 



i^O IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. IIL 

when that state which was absolutely necessary to 
its existence shall be no more. 

If moral evil can exist in a state which is not pro- 
bationary, which must be admitted if it exist beyond 
the grave, it must exist without any discriminating 
criterion, b}^ which the morality and immorality of 
actions can be distinguished from each other ; or 
we must presume, that the moral law must be trans- 
planted into a future state. In the former case, we 
must suppose transgression to exist where there is 
no law, which is unjust ; and in the latter, we must 
suppose, that even a state of retribution is proba- 
tionary, which has been already proved to be ab- 
surd. If then, the latter of these cases involve a 
contradiction, and the former be unjust ; if no trans- 
gression can exist where there is no law ; and if a 
probationary state cannot be a state of retribution ;' 
it follows, that moral evil must be confined to a pro- 
bationary state. For, could we only imagine that 
moral evil could be determined to exist, without 
die violation of those laws which are peculiarly ap- 
propriate to our present condition ; we must admit 
the existence of moral evil, while we admit our- 
selves to be totally destitute of those rules of discri- 
mination, by which alone good and evil can be dis- 
tinguished from each other. 

Existing in this state and manner, moral evil can 
produce no consciousness of innocence or guilt ; the 
rules of eternal right must be unknown, and conse- 
quently it can excite no solicitude, and awaken nei- 
ther our hopes nor fears. The rewards and punish- 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 121 

ments, to which it may expose its possessors, can. 
not be founded upon those principles of justice 
\vhidi are comprehensible to man ; because the in- 
dividuals, unable to act, except under the direction 
of chance or the impulse of necessity, cannot be the 
subjects either of censure or applause. 

To suppose that the same laws, which now dis- 
tinguish vice from virtue in the view of man, shall 
continue to operate beyond the grave, is to suppose 
the moral condition of man to be precisely the same 
both in time and in eternity. We must therefore 
admit, that those laws which were given to man in 
this life, must continue to operate when our con- 
fines shall be enlarged, and when the present condi- 
tion shall be done away. These suppositions must 
break down the principal distinctions between time 
and eternity, and make those distinct abodes to 
differ chiefly in the locality and enlargement of our 
scenes of action. In fine, it will make a state of 
retribution to be a state of probation ; they will be- 
come terms synonymous with each other to which 
we may even annex the same idea ; in short, it will 
be a state of retribution, and not a state of retribu- 
tion, at the same time. 

But, since a state of retribution necessarily im- 
plies a state of previous probation, while a state of 
probation as necessarily looks forward to a state of 
retribution ; the terms and ideas must be so distinct 
from each other, that all attemps to blend them to- 
gether will involve contradictions of the most pal- 
pable nature ; probation in such a case can be no 
probation, and retribution can be no retribution, 

s 



122 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

We, therefore, come to the same conclusion which 
we have already seen, namely, that moral evil must 
be confined within the boundaries of the moral law ; 
that this law must be confined to a state of proba- 
tion, that probation is confined to the present life, 
and that retribution lies beyond the grave. 

What the physical nature of moral evil is, w^hen 
abstracted from man, I take not upon me to say ; 
neither do I presume to determine in what manner 
it applies to other lapsed intelligences. Man is the 
subject of our inquiries, and *'the proper study of 
mankind is man." Of this truth, however, we may 
be assured, that moral evil, as it applies to man, 
must apply to him as such ; and therefore must ex- 
clusively apply to him in his compounded condition. 
It was to man, in his compounded state, that the 
laws of God, both natural and revealed, were ex- 
clusively given ; and to him in this state those laws 
which distingush vice from virtue, must exclusively 
apply. But when this (!:ompounded mode of man's 
being shall be dissolved, and we shall enter into 
another condition of existence, I can have no con- 
ception how thuse laws, which were given to man 
in his probationary state and compounded condi- 
tion, can be applicable to him in another, where pro- 
bation, and (if the body rise not) compound must 
be alike unknown. 

From these sources of argument, in conjunction 
with others, we cannot avoid inferring, that moral 
evil must be confined to a probationary state. And 
therefore, when this probationary state shall cease, 
even moral evil shall be no more. 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 123 

That death shall terminate our probationary con- 
dition of being, is too obvious to require further 
proof. The separation of soul and body, together 
with the changes which present themselves to our 
senses, plainly mark the awful moment as an 
important epoch in existence ; an epoch which 
launches the disembodied spirit into a future state, 
and commences that retribution which shall never 
end. And, since death must be considered as a 
natural effect of moral evil, which must be confined 
to our probationary state; when the cause expires, 
the effect must necessarily discontinue. For, as the 
existence of death is not real and personal, but ra- 
ther negative^ relative, and dependent ; it can no 
longer conanue in being than while that cause 
on which it is dependent is preserved. And, since 
moral evil is the primary cause from which it sprang, 
and is exclusively confined to a probationary state 
which death must terminate, the consequence is 
evident, that death, and moral evil, and a proba- 
tionary state, must expire together. 

As death has passed upon ail men, because all 
have sinned, these arguments will apply individu- 
ally to every victim of its gloomy power. The 
natural effects which finally terminate in the disso- 
lution of the component parts of our bodies, may 
appear indeed to continue for a season ; but when 
that cause which produced these effects shall be 
totally subdued, these effects must forever cease. 
Then that principle, which we shall soon consider, 
which Constitutes the identity of the body, under 
all its changes, both in life and death, removed from 



124 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. 111. 

those oppressions which retarded the energies of its 
active nature, shall begin to put forth its infant pow- 
ers. And, sufficiency ripened, through the recess 
which the grave affords, for a future state, this prin- 
ciple, when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be chang- 
ed, shall put on immortal life. 

With the natural effects of moral evil, the moral 
consequences of human actions can, however, have 
but little or no connection. These moral conse- 
quences depend upon distinct causes, and must 
stand or fall with the moral attributes of God. His 
justice must proportion rewards and punishments in 
the great day of retribution, with impartial equity, 
and give to every man according to his works. 
But, when death shall be destroyed, the natural ef- 
fects of death must perish ; and the human body, 
liberated from its cold repository, must come forth 
into newness of life, and begin a state of existence 
which shall never end. 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 123 



SECTION V* 

Oil the Difference between the natural Effects 
and moral Consequences of moral Evils with 
Arguments tending to prove that the former 
must cease ^ zvhile the latter loiLl continue for 
ever. 

In the preceding Section T have contended, that 
our present state of existence is a state of probation ; 
but, that beyond the grave a continuence of this 
probationary state must be inapplicable^ and there- 
fore will be unknown. And, from hence I have 
concluded, that those laws which were applicable to 
a probationary state, cannot be presumed to retain 
their present operative power, in that state where 
probation must be swallowed up in retribution, and 
can have no existence. 

From common observation, we cannot avoid 
learning, that, whatever modes of existence moral 
evil may assume, its principal branches must con- 
sist in those actions to which the existence of the 
body, as well as that of the soul, is absolutely ne- 
cessary. And certain it is, that these branches of 
moral evil can no longer be repeated, than while the 
body remains in union with the soul, and retains the 
power of muscular action. Now, we well know 
that in the hour of death, these powers of bodily 
action are quite suspended, and consequently, the 
body can be no longer subjected to those laws, 



126 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

which are of a moral nature, and which distinguish 
vice from virtue. And hence it is we learn, that 
through the important change which death occa- 
sions, the body, while in a state of torpor, can be 
subject to no more law, because its alliance with 
the conscious spirit is now dissolved. And since 
the body when united to the soul was the subject of 
a moral law, and is now, through the disunion which 
has taken place, a subject no longer, this law must 
discontinue its operations, through a kind of neces- 
sity which is implanted in the natural constitution 
of things. As, therefore, the present constitution 
of man must be dissolved in the hour of death, we 
cannot, beyond the boundaries of the present life, 
be capable of those actions which constitute moral 
evil in our present state ; consequently, retribution 
must succeed to the present life, and we must here- 
after, either enjoy those rewards or suffer those 
punishments, which justice shall annex to our moral 
actions here below. 

But, though moral evil, confined to the violation 
of those laws which are only appropriate to the pre- 
sent probationary state, must cease, together with 
its natural effects, when this life shall be no more,, 
it will not follow that the moral consequences of our 
present actions must tht refore expire. All effects 
have a necessary dependence upon their causes ; 
and the same modes of reasoning, which will con- 
vince us that death must cease when moral evil shall 
be done a\vay, will assure us that the moral conse- 
qnenccs of moral evil must continue in existence. 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 127 

because they are the natural effects of the moral Jus- 
tice of God. 

If the moral consequences of moral evil depend 
upon any cause which we denominate natural m the 
present life, they must necessarily perish, when that 
cause either ceases to exist, or ceases to operate. In 
this light I have considered the dissolution of the 
human body as the natural effect of death, and death 
as the natural effect of moral evil ; and hence I have 
inferred the resurrection of the body from the cer- 
tain destruction of moral evil, and the utter impossi- 
bility that any natural effect should survive its cause. 

But, as on the contrary, the moral consequences 
of human actions must df\^Qw&u^(ni moral causes 
with which they are connected ; they cannot be 
presumed to cease until these moral causes cease to 
operate, or shall be totally done away. As, there- 
fore, that cause upon which the future consequences 
of our actions depend is the moral justice of God, 
these moral consequences being dependent upon 
that immutable attribute, must run parallel with it, 
and be perpetuated through all duration. 

Were it possible for us to suppose that justice had 
no existence, then no moral consequences could 
possibly have had a being, either in this life or in 
another. Moral evil must, therefore, consist in a 
deviation from the principles of justice, and those 
moral consequences which consist in future punish- 
ments must be considered as the natural effects 
which are produced by it, in all those who are guilty 
of immoral actions. While, therefore, moral justice 
continues in existence, its effects must follow ; and 



!28 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

as the principle is at once immutable and insepara- 
ble from the nature of God, its nature must be eter- 
nal, and its effects must continue forever. And, 
hence, also it is evident, that as those actions, to the 
consequences of which it applies, were performed 
by the body and the soul in conjunction with each 
other, a resurrection becomes necessary, to prevent 
the effects of justice from being defeated in their 
application. 

Death, on the contrary, as has been already prov- 
ed, is rather a natural effect than a moral conse- 
queiK e of moral evil ; and therefc^e must stand in 
immediate contact with its natural cause. When 
therefore moral evil shall cease, its natural effects 
must discontinue, though the moral consequences 
remain ; and the result of that discontinuance will 
be a resurrection from the grave, which is a resto- 
ration to perpetual life. While on the contrary, the 
moral consequences of moral evil, taking a deeper 
root in the immutable justice of God, who can pun- 
ish the guilty for ever, must remain when all natural 
effects shall be entirely done away. 

That the moral consequences of moral evil are 
distinct fr.^m its natural effects, and may exist 
where death and dissolution can have no place ; is 
evident from the condition oij alien angels. They, 
though deathless, because they kept not their first 
estate, are doomed to welter in worlds of fire for 
ever, and to feel the moral consequences of their 
transgression ; while the natural effects of moral 
evil are inapplicable to then- natures. For, being 
in all probability uncompounded essences, we can 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. I2.a 

have no conception that any natural effect could 
take place upon them, either in those changes, which 
man from his mixed nature undergoes in the hour 
of death, or in that dissolution which is its subse- 
quent result. Here then are evidently moral con- 
sequences detached from those natural effects which 
we behold taking place in man. 

But, if we change the scene, and turn our thoughts 
from these lapsed intelligences to the brute creation, 
the prospect will be entirely inverted. The brute 
creation incapable of moral action, can have no con- 
nection with the moral consequences of moral evil. 
They are only capable of feeling those natural ef- 
fects^ and that subsequent dissolution which they 
undergo ; leaving all moral consequences to apply 
to those rational intelligences, who, from their superi- 
or powers, are capable of distinguishing good from 
evil, and of wilfully choosing that evil which leads 
them to future woe. These natural effects, which 
brutes are doomed to suffer, seemed to arise from 
their intimate connection with man ; their bodies are 
compounded of different elements, and they are ex- 
posed to that dissolution, to which, in the present 
state of things, all compounded bodies are invariably 
liable. Here then are evidently natural effects^ total- 
ly detached from all moral consciquences, applied to 
beings incapable of moral actions ; and consequently 
incapable of moral obedience or transgression. 

But, when in the third place, we turn our views 
from angels and from brutes to man, we are pre- 
sented with a different scene. The essence of an- 
gels being purely spiritual, exposed in their fall 



130 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. III. 

their rational nature to the moral consequences of 
sin ; while they were exempted through that un- 
compounded essence, from feeling those natural 
effects to which otherwise they would have been 
exposed. While on the opposite side, the essence of 
brutes, being purely material, exposed them to feel 
the natural effects, and exempted them from the 
moral consequences of moral evil; because they were 
destitute of a moral nature. But, as on the contrary, 
the essence of a man consists in the union of two 
distinct natures, as he is compounded both of mat- 
ter and spirit, and apparently includes the essence 
of an angel and that of a brute ; so must he be ex- 
posed to the natural effects of moral evil while here, 
and to its moral consequences hereafter. 

If then, those beings that are purely spiritual are, 
when fallen exposed to the moral cause niences of 
sin, while those creatures which are purely mate- 
rial, are exempt from those consequences, and ex- 
posed to lis natural effects J the conclusion is both 
obvious and striking, that a being wh-se essence 
consists in the union of both these natures, must 
necessarily be exposed to the natural effects and 
moral consequences together. Such then is pre- 
cisely the case with man. And, as both of these 
natures, which constitute his essence, concurred in 
the performance of actions which neither could have 
separately committed ; actions, which became ame- 
nable to justice, from the direction which they 
derive frora the spiritual powers of the soul ; a 
resurrection of the body must be demanded by the 
moral and retributive justice of Gcd. 



Sect, v.] OlF THE HUMAN BODY. lai 

On these, and facts like these it is, that we behold 
the distinction which subsists between the natural 
effects and the moral consequences of sin, as they 
apply to man. We behold the former depending 
upon moral evil as its natural cause : and we per- 
ceive the latter in close connectii>n with the moral 
justice of God. The former must expire when its 
natural cause shall perish ; while the latter must 
continue until moral justice can be no more. In 
death I have supposed that moral evil shall expire ; 
and consequently th.it death must then give place to 
life. But, as the moral consequences of sio are 
founded upon an immutable cause; these consequen- 
ces must survive time and continue through eternity. 
If, therefore, we conclude that rewards and pun- 
ishments will continue as the moral consequences of 
guilt and virtue, and continue for ever : while death, 
the natural effect of sin, shall be done away ; we 
shall behold all the parts of the economy of heaven 
harmonizing together, and even the natural effects 
of moral evil making way for the great displays of 
infinite justice and mercy. And, by being render- 
ed subservient to the wise designs of God, they 
shall tend to the developement of those attributes, 
through which all finite lapsed intelligences will bfe 
held forth, either as monuments of justice or of 
mercy through all duration, even for ever and ever* 



132 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

CHAP. IV. 

ON IDENTITY IN GENERAL, 

SECTION I. 

On the Evidences of Identity. 

1 N what personal identity consists, is an important 
question, which has been frequently agitated and 
variously discussed ; and on this account it may 
appear presumptuous rather than prudent in me, 
to attempt an investigation of a subject on which 
the learned world has been so much and so long 
divided. But, since it is a point which is insepara- 
bly connected with the resurrection of the body 
from the grave ; I am under a necessity of examin- 
ing briefly its evidences and nature, in order to fix 
some criterion that may serve to solve some of those 
difficulties with which the subject of the resurrec- 
tion appears to be perplexed. 

It is an opinion which has obtained the sanction 
of general suffrage that ** personat identity consists 
in consciousness,''^ Whether this opinion be true or 
false I take not upon me presumptuously to deter- 
mine ; but'certain I am, that my habits of reflection 
have produced in my mind a different conviction, 
and led me to conclude that diis consciousness, 
which with many, has been thought to constitute 
identity, is no more than an evidence which we have 



Sect. I.J OF THE HUiMAN BODY. 13S 

of it. For, as consciousness implies a substance in 
which it inheres ; so, this consciousness rather pre- 
siippr r'j ^17. constitutes that identity which is at- 
tributed 10 it. 

It is certain, I think beyond all doubt, that our 
consciousness of any given fact can never constitute 
that fact; nay, the fact itself must stand or fall in- 
dependently of our consciousness of it ; and must in 
the order of nature, have had an existence previously 
to any consciousness which we could possibly pos- 
sess of it. Existence, therefore, and our conscious- 
ness of it are two distinct ideas. 

In addition to the above observation, I think it 
will appear equally evident, that, though some par- 
ticular action might have been performed by me, of 
which at present I have no recollection, while I am 
destitute of all consciousness, I am at the same time 
totally deprived of all evidence of the fact itself; 
and consequently, my consciousness which in this 
case must be absent, can never constitute the iden- 
tity either of the action, or of any person or thinking 
substance, by which that action was performed. If, 
therefore, personal identity consists in consciousness, 
it will be extremely difficult for us to ascertain, as 
in the case before us, whether identity can remain 
after all consciousness of it is totally done away. 

There can, I think, be no doubt, that our consci- 
ousness of any given fact will be admitted by our- 
selves as decisive evidence of that fact; while this 
consciousness remains ; and this evidence will suffi- 
ciently prove to us the existence of the fact itself. 



131 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. IV. 

But then, this consciousness of the fact being only 
a simple action of the mind, must be brought into 
contact with the fact, to the certainty of which it be- 
comes evidence. And as this consciousness is 
founded upon the fact which it necessarily presup- 
poses, and to which it owes its existence ; it can 
never constitute either the fact which it proves, or 
the identity of that being by whom the fact was 
performed. Nay, this particular act of conscious, 
ness, instead of constituting personal identity, will 
not immediately prove its existence. It will indeed 
sufficiently prove the fact in question ; and hence 
we may rest assured, that if there be an action there 
must be an actor ; but the personal identity of the 
actor can neither consist in the action, nor be con- 
stituted by that consciousness which assures us of 
both, nor by any subsequent consciousness which 
we may he eafter possess. 

Our present consciousness of any given action, 
which we have performed, is to us an invincible 
evidence of the existence of that action ; and the 
subsequent consciousness which we may have here- 
after, of our present consciousness, will be to us a 
sufficient evidence of our consciousness of the given 
action. Our present consciousness of any given 
action is a simple act of the mind, operating upon 
the past connection which subsisted between the ac- 
tion itself and our former consciousness of it ; as 
well as between the former consciousness and ac- 
tion, and our present consciousness of both. In the 
former case, our consciousness became an evidence 



Sec. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 135 

of the action itself, while in the latter our consci- 
ousness becomes evidence of the former, and is an 
act of the mind operating upon its past operations. 

But, although our former consciousness of ary 
given fact or action, and our present perception of 
that past consciousness must be admitted as indis- 
putable evidence on the points in question ; yet 
personal identity cannot possibly consist in either. 
And therefore it will follow that personal identity 
may remain uninjured and entire, though all evi- 
dence of its existence were done away. And, since 
our consciousness of our own identity depends upon 
identity itself for its existence ; we cannot avoid 
obtaining an assurance, that where identity is not, 
there a consciousness of it cannot possibly be. 

But, though there can be no consciousness of our 
own identity vi^here identity is not ; it will not fol- 
low, that where our own identity is, there must be 
an invariable consciousness of it. And the reason 
is evident : The identity of our persons being inde- 
pendent, can have no necessary reliance upon our 
consciousness of it ; whereas our consciousness of 
our own identity, being in itself necessarily depend- 
ent must expire, the instant we conceive that iden- 
tity, on which it is founded, to be done away. Hence 
then it is evident, that our own personal identity 
may remain, though our consciousness of it should 
even be lost ; while on the contrary our conscious- 
ness of it will infallibly prove its existence ; and, 
from its dependent nature, demonstrate that our 
identity never can be lost while our consciousness 
of it remains in existence. And hence also it follows, 



136 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

that our own personal identity, and our own consci- 
ousness of it, are two distinct ideas ; and that the 
former never can be constituted by the latter. Con- 
sciousness therefore never can constitute identity, 
though it is the only infallible evidence which we 
seem to have of it. 

Whether consciousness be any thing more than 
an action of the mind, is not for me at present to 
inquire ; but of this we are certain, that identity 
must, in its own nature, be immutable, intransfera- 
ble, and exempted from all changes ; and conse- 
quently our consciousness ^f it must, by being' 
founded upon it, be equally permanent (if its report 
be true) however fluctuating and unstable it may be 
in its own nature. In fact we can have no conception 
of consciousness, when detached from an object ; 
and therefore we can have no decisive mark, by^ 
which to determine upon its nature. But, admitting 
it to be in itself nothing more than an action of the 
mind; nothing perhaps can be a greater mark of folly 
than to conceive that our personal identity can con- 
sist in that which is fleeting, transitory and unstable. 

As consciousness must either be an action, which 
results from some substance, or the peculiar modi- 
fication of some substance itself; it must in the or- 
der of nature presuppose the existence of that sub- 
stance from which it results, or of which it is a mo- 
dification ; because no peculiar modification can be 
coeval with the thing modified. And if, in the order 
of nature, the substance must have existed previ- 
ously to those actions which result from it, and to 
those modifications which it may afterwards assume; 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 137 

it follows with all the evidence of demonstration, 
that the identity of the substance, whether material 
or immaterial, can neither consist in, nor depend 
upon those actions or modifications of bein^, which 
depend entirely upon the substance itself for 
their own existence. I therefore think it to be un- 
questionable and decisive, that consciousness can 
never constitute the identity of any substance, whe- 
ther material or immaterial : though it must be the 
most unquestionable, and perhaps the only evidence 
which we have of its existence. 

If consciousness constitute personal identity, it will 
follow, that where there is no consciousness there 
can be no identity. And, admitting the sentiments 
of those to be true, who discard all spiritual sub- 
stances from the world, and admitting also that all 
matter is inert; there can be no such thing as iden- 
tity in existence. And, to avoid these contradictions 
and absurdities, we must conclude that whether the 
substance in question (if purely material) he animate 
or inanimate, its identity can neither be constituted 
nor destroyed by any mode of consciousness, which 
may either reside within or result from it. 

Every distinct individual must have a distinct 
principle of identity, which cannot possibly lose it- 
self in the identity of another ; we now satisfactorily 
know that Peter is not Thomas, that Thomas is not 
Eichard, and that Richard is not John, But all this 
might have been, if personal identity had no exist* 
cnce. It is only from the existence of identity, that 
it can be distinguished from that diversity, or that 
one individual can be distinguished from another j 



138 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV, 

and the instant we suppose personal identity to be 
destroyed^ from that very instant the distinction 
between identity and diversity must be done away. 
But, if identity in the abstract be admitted to exist, 
and to exist as universally as substance, which can- 
not be denied, and yet to be constituted by a con- 
sciousness which is less universal ; it will follow that 
identity is universal and not universal at the same 
time, which is a plain contradiction. Consciousness 
therefore can never constitute that identity, of 
which, to ourselves, it is an unquestionable evidence. 
As, therefore, some fixed principle of personal iden- 
tity must be admitted, to render our consciousness 
of ourselves permanent and decisive ; the question 
seems to be placed beyond all doubt, that neither 
our consciousness of an action, nor our conscious- 
ness of our own performance of it, caa any longer 
retain either its name or nature, than while this fix- 
ed principle, upon which it is dependent, remains in 
a permanent, state of being. 

Were it possible that this principle of identity 
could be changed, while our consciousness of its 
sameness remained entire ; the evidence of our con- 
sciousness would be falsified by fact. And in this 
case, as we could have no assurance, whatever, that 
our consciousness of our own personal identity was 
founded upon that identity ; we must instantly ban- 
ish all our notions of assurance from the world, and 
place ourselves in a condition which would oblige 
us to doubt even of our own existence ; and finally 
to doubt the existence even of those doulns which 
we profess to entertain. In short, it would intro- 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 13? 

duce universal scepticism, which would reduce the 
mind to a chaos of contradictions. For, should my 
consciousness presume to assure me, that I am now 
in point of personal identity the same person that I 
was ten or fifteen years ago, when in reality I am 
so fi\r changed, that what then performed an action 
to which my consciousness bear witness, is now no 
longer in existence ; the internal report of my con- 
sciousness must be falsified by the removal of that 
identity to which it bears witness. And, if the only 
evidence which I can possibly have of my own per- 
sonal identity, deceive me, I am at once deprived 
of the only proof which can ascertain its existence, 
and by which I can distingush the same from 
another. But, since these conclusions are contra- 
dictory and so big with absurdity, that they cannot 
be admitted, it appears infallibly certain, that while 
our consciousness of our own identity remains, the 
identity of our being must remain also ; and that it 
is demonstrated to be the same, by that conscious* 
ness which we have of it. Without this our consci- 
ousness of identity must be a consciousness of it, 
and no consciousness of it at the same time ; and 
the consciousness of our ozvn identity and not of 
our ozvn identity in the same instant. And, as this 
act ot consciousness which demonstrates the same- 
ness of my person, must look backward through re- 
iterated acts, to form a contact with that distant ac- 
tion which I am conscious that I performed in an 
early period of my life ; so, as it will infallibly prove 
the certainty of that action, as that I am the same 
person that then and there performed it. And to 



140 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

deny the truth of these sentiments, we must suppose 
that my consciousness of that early action is no 
consciousness of it ; so that it will be consciousness 
and no consciousness at the same time. 

The certainty of an action will infallibly prove the 
certainty of an actor; and my consciousness that I 
am the person, and that that action was performed 
by me, will be indubitable evidence of both. And 
the future consciousness, which at any given period 
I may have of these facts, will prove with equal 
certainty (because consciousness of personal identity 
never can be transferred) that the substance in which 
that consciousness may inhere continues the same, 
whatever may be its abstract nature. Hence then 
we obtain, through the evidence of consciousness, 
a satisfactory assurance that it remains the same, 
notwithstanding ail the mutations and modes and ac- 
cidents to which we may have been exposed, during 
the intermediate spaces of duration, which have 
elapsed between the time of the action, and that 
time, when in future I may be conscious of it. 

But, while I thus assert that our reiterated acts 
of consciousness, following in regular succession, 
will form an unbroken chain of evidence, of the most 
decisive nature, through which the sameness of that 
principle in which this consciousness inheres, and 
the certainty of the action may be to myself demon- 
strated ; I would by no means insinuate that this 
chain of evidence will inform mc what this principle 
of identity is, or how it is constituted. To know 
with precision in what it consists, must be a subject 
of distinct inquiry, with which this species of evi- 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 141 

dence has little or no connection. Repeated acts 
of consciousness, resting upon the same action, will 
prove that some substance in which it inheres is in 
existence, and that this substance is the same ; but 
they will not prove to any one what it is. Consci- 
ousness will prove that it is unchangeable in its na- 
ture ; but it will neither identify any one of its pro- 
perties, nor tell us what those properties are which 
constitute it. 

I am well assured, that without consciousness we 
can know nothing. But though the modes of our 
consciousness are multiform and various, perhaps 
the distinct species of identity, which are in exist- 
ence, are more multiform and various than the modes 
of consciousness which we possess. In order there- 
fore to prosecute our inquiry with some degree of 
accuracy, we must simplify our question, and dis- 
encumber ourselves of all extraneous matter. Hence 
then, to inquire into the distinct nature of identity 
and our distinct perceptions of it, must bq the sub- 
ject of another section. 



SECTION II. 

On our distinct ideas of Identity^ founded upon the 
diversity of its nature. 

When we turn our thoughts to the term identity, 
and attempt to make inquiries into its nature, it is 
indispensably necessary that we should define with 
accuracy, not only the sense in which we use it, but 



142 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap, IV. 

the subject itself to which it may be applied. The 
necessity of doing this, in the case before us, will 
appear still more evident, when we reflect, that 
there are many views in which the human body may 
be considered, which form no part of our present 
investigation. There is an identity oj the component 
parts of which the body is formed, and there is an 
identity of the modification oJ them. There is also 
an identitij of man^ considered as a compound of 
matter and spirit ; and there is an identity^ vyhich 
detached from these, is only applicable to the body 
itself. These terms convey to us distinct ideas, 
which, though appUcable to the same subject, are 
only connected by a remote affinity. 

The identity of modification must consist in the 
same position of every particle which is included in 
any given substance ; so that neither any particle, 
nor the position of it, can possibly be removed, 
while this identity of modification is presumed to 
continue. And should any particle be removed 
from its primitive station, and lodged in some other 
part of the same portion of matter, the identity of 
modification must be thereby so effectually destroy- 
ed, as though it had been totally removed from the 
corporeal mass. 

But, although the identity of modification should 
be thus destroyed, it will not follow that the ideji- 
iify of the component parts must perish. For 
while the particles of which any given portion had 
been composed, remain unmixed with foreign par- 
ticles in the same mass, the identity of the compo- 
nent parts must remain, in what form soever the 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. . M3 

particles themselves may be combined and connected 
together. But, if any given particle should be re- 
moved from the given mass, or any new acquisitions 
should be made, in either, or in both of these cases, 
the identity of the component parts of this given 
body must be entirely lost. It therefore follows, 
that the removal of one particle from its primitive 
position will destroy the identity of modification, 
while the total remo\>^l of another from the mass 
will as totally destroy the identity of the component 
parts themselves. It is indeed true, that after these 
changes, the identity of the particles themselves will 
remain ; but this will be the identity of distinct par- 
ticles taken separately, and not the identity of the 
component parts considered as one collective whole. 

The identity of man, considered as a compound, 
must consist in the union of two distinct substances, 
vitally united together. To constitute this identity 
of man, neither the identity of the modification of 
the parts, nor the identity of all the parts themselves 
can be absolutely necessary. The man may con- 
tinue, though the parts of which his body is com- 
posed may be considerably changed. And while 
the union continues between the matter and spirit of 
which he is composed, our complex idea of man re- 
mains uninjured and entire. Such are the ideas 
which I have of modification, of compound parts, 
and of man. 

But, when we turn our thoughts to the identity of 
the Jiiinian body^ our idea becomes distinct from 
those which have been considered, and involves 



144 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

several questions of considerable difficulty and of 
considerable impt^rtance. It is an identity which 
must continue permanent amidst those perpetual 
changes which the body undergoes. 

But, since the particles which, from time to time, 
adhere to the corporeal mass, are in perpetual fluc- 
tuation ; and, since almost every moment impresses 
upon our bodies some considerable change, it will 
be impossible to fix the identity of them in the whole 
of the numerical particles which have occasionally 
adhered to that vitality which animates the human 
frame. A variety of arguments would operate to 
refute so absurd a supposition, as that which would 
make the identity of the body to consist in the same 
numerical particles ; — particles, which have perhaps 
occasionally adhered to different bodies, which 
bodies on this account may with justice present to 
them an equal claim. And, though the apparent 
modification of the body may seem to continue 
amidst these vicissitudes; yet, whatever resemblance 
it may bear, it cannot be the real modification of 
the same particles ; because they are supposed to 
have given place to others, which are now removed, 
and will perhaps adhere to it no more. 

To know with certainty in what the identity of the 
body consists, is perhaps a point of considerable 
difficulty. It is a question, which is more easily 
proposed than answered ; and we seem to know 
with more certainty in what it does not consist, than 
in what it does. This, however, will admit of little 
doubt, that the thing itself, and the evidences of it, 



l&ect. It] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 14^ 

are distinct ideas. We may be totally ignorant of 
the nature of the former, while the latter may be 
attended with all the assurance necessary to produce 
conviction ; just as we may be assured of our own 
existence, though we may never be able to know 
with certainty what it is that constitutes it. The 
evidences of a fact always presuppose the existence 
of that fact ; and for that reason can never consti- 
tute that fact which they presuppose. In like man- 
ner, the consciousness which I now have that a cer- 
tain action was performed by me (the self same per- 
son who now writes) is to me a sufficient evidence 
that sameness remains to the present moment; 
and will be so, as long as my consciousness of that 
action continues, notwithstanding all the changes 
which my body has undergone ; even though I 
should never be able to comprehend in what it is 
that this sameness consists. For, if consciousness 
cannot be transferred from one system of matter, or 
from one substance to another, without losing its 
own identity, which I think no one can either affirm 
or successfully controvert; it will follow that my 
reflex act of consciousness will, at any given period 
of my existence, afford me the most unquestionable 
evidence that I am the same person and not another. 
For, if I am now conscious that I was once consci- 
ous of a fact, which is past and gone, my present 
consciousness will be a sufficient evidence of my 
past consciousness, and place that former consci- 
ousness beyond the reach of uncertainty and doubto 
And, as that former consciousness must be on th^ 



Ut) IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV- 

same ground a proper evidence of the fact which it 
ascertains ; I arrive by these means at the most de- 
cisive evidence, that the fact of which I was once 
conscious, and of which consciousness I am now 
conscious, was done by this self same identical per- 
son, who now possesses the present consciousness. 
The first act of consciousness was in contact with 
the fact itbclf, the next act in contact with the f(jre- 
going ; and my present act being in contact with 
that act which next preceded it, preserves the chain 
of evidence unbroken and entire to the present mo- 
ment. Nothing, therefore, can either affect or in- 
jure the chain of evidence, which thus reaches back 
through preceding links to the facts m question at 
any given period, within the reach of recollective 
duration. And as a transfer of consciousness can- 
not possibly take place, from one substance to ano- 
ther, without destroying the identity of that consci- 
ousness ; the identity of that consciousness will 
pi:ove the identity of the substance in which it in- 
heres, without the possibility of deception ; though 
it can never constitute that identity which it thus 
unquestionably proves. 

That the identity of our bodies does exist, we 
cannot for a moment doubt. Our own existence 
will upbraid our incredulity, and force the belief of 
the fact upon us, in spite of our most obstinate re- 
sistance. That personal identity and the evidences 
of it are two distinct ideas, I have already proved in 
this and the preceding sections, in which I have con- 
sidered consciousness as the only medium through 
which past and future can be brought into contact 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 147 

with one another ; and through which present per- 
ceptions can be brought into contact with actions 
that are past and gone. But, though this consci- 
ousness of what is past, is an unquestionable evi- 
dence of the certainty of identity ; yet identity itself 
must be a something totally distinct ; and can never 
be constituted by that consciousness, which is only 
an evidence of it, which necessarily presupposes it, 
and which, on that account, must derive its origin 
and constitution from another source. 

When we turn our thoughts to the term identity, 
and view it in its most enlarged and extensive sig- 
nification ; we shall find but few things to which 
the term will not apply, even though they present 
us with ideas, which have little or no connection 
with one another. 

When we speak of the identity of substance, we 
mean every thing which is included within its es- 
sence, abstracted from all its appendages, its config- 
uration, and modes. When we speak of the ide?!- 
tity of parts^ we mean every identical atom, includ- 
ed in that union, which at any given period is pre- 
sumed to engross our thoughts. When we speak 
of the identity of any particular modification, the 
same identical arrangement is necessary, in all the 
modes and situations of the particles which suggest- 
ed to us the first idea. But, when we speak of the 
identity of man, we not only take into our idea the 
corporeal parts of his body, but include in that com^ 
plex term, the union of two distinct substances, and 
consider them in mysterious contact with one ano- 



1 48 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV; 

ther : and by the removal of either, our complex 
idea is so far mutilated, that the identity of man is 
totally destroyed. All therefore that afterwards re- 
mains in the mind, is an idea of two distinct sub- 
stances, now no longer in contact with one another. 
In the midst of these distinct applications of the 
term identity, it is however necessary to distinguish 
and select, that Ve may know with precision what 
that identity is, after which we inquire ; where it 
is to be found, in what it consists ; and what are its 
most distinguishing marks and properties. 

The identity which constitutes the subject of our 
present inquiry, is neither the identity of matter nor 
of spirit ; it is not the identity of parts or of essen- 
ces, It is not the identity of substance or of modi- 
fication, nor is it the identity of man. But, the 
identity after which we inquire is the identity of that 
pai^ticulai^ part of man^ which subsists under all 
the vicissitudes and mutations of human life : which 
inust subsist when the spirit is removed from its 
confines ; it is that part which we denominate thq 
^uman body^ 

SECTION IIL 

General ohservaiions on the identity of the 
Human Body, 

That the identity of the human body must con- 
sist in something which is material, will admit of little 
or no doubt to a reflecting mind. It would involve 
a contradiction to suppose the contrary ; especially 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 149 

when we consider that the body itself, after the iden- 
tity of which we inquire, established an idea in our 
minds, of which the spirit can make no part. The 
identity of matter must necessarily be constituted 
by something which is material ; and as the body is 
formed solely of this substance, the identity of the 
body must necessarily be material also. These 
facts arise from the nature of body, and from those 
ideas which we have of material substances. And, 
could we even suppose that the identity of the body, 
which is admitted to be material, could consist in 
something which is not material, it must be the iden* 
tity of the body and not the identity of the body at 
the same time, which is a contradiction. 

The question, however, still remains — -In what 
does the identity of the human body consist? 

That it must be material, is a truth which I flat- 
ter myself none will presume to deny. But, in what- 
soever it consists, we ipust involve ourselves in con- 
tradictions, were we to presume the possibility of 
its bein^ transferred from one system of •atoms to 
another. There are therefore but two points to be 
considered ; the first is — does the identity of the 
body consist in the whole of the particles which con- 
stitute the body ? or secondly, is identity peculiar 
to some particular part ? These two points seem 
to be the only ones, which can at present claim an 
interest in our decision. 

When we take a survey of identity, in the ab- 
stract ; I am ready to allow, that we can form no 
conception how our idea of it can be annexed to 
any one part of the human body more than to anq- 



150 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

Other ; since the reasonings which can be advanced 
in favour of the one, w'\\\ apparently apply with 
equal force to all. But, when we view this theory 
in Its active and practical consequences ; it assumes 
another aspect, and places another feature on the 
^vhole face of things. 

We well know, in case of amputation, that much 
of the substance of the body may be taken away, 
without in the least affecting the identity of that 
body from which that substance was taken. It is 
true that tile removal of any given particle will en- 
tirely destroy the identity of the numerical parts, 
as well as the identity of the modification of them. 
Bui the identity of the parts, and the identity of the 
body, are two distinct ideas. For, while amputa- 
tion will, and inevitably must destroy the identity 
of the numerical parts ; the identity of the body will 
remain uninjured and entire, as much so, as though 
no such amputation had taken place. And hence 
it will follow, that the whole of our corporeal frames, 
that evefy part and particle of the human body, can- 
not be necessary to constitute its identity. For, as 
the identity of the body may, and actually does sur- 
vive the amputation of many parts ; those ampu- 
tated parts can only be considered as extraneous 
inatter, or as appendages to that principle of per- 
sonality in which I shall hereafter presume to place 
the identity of the body of man. 

But, although some parts may be thus separated 
from the body, without affecting its identity ; yet 
this separation must be partial. There must be 
some hues and boundaries of demarkatioD; beyond 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 151 

which amputation cannot pass, without aiFecting 
those tender and vital parts, which have a more im- 
mediate connection with the su' ject of our inquiry. 

When we look on these remote appendages of 
the body, which can be separated from it without 
pain; the suffrages of popular opinion concur in 
one general sentiment, with the disquisitions of 
philosophy, in affirming that bodily identity resides 
not in these. We decide without hesitation, and 
that justly, that the body is the same in point of 
identity after the clipping of our hair or nails, as it 
was before ; but this would be a false decision, if 
either our hair or nails, or those particles of which 
they are composed, formed any part of the identity 
of those bodies whence they were taken. 

Those minute particles which are thrown off by 
perspiration, are also admitted to have no influence 
upon it in point of identity ; neither can they occa- 
sion any change in the sameness of the body, from 
whence they spring. But, however, the places of 
these evaporated particles may be supplied by new 
ones, the exhalations must necessarily produce a 
positive change in the component parts of the body, 
as well as in the modification of the parts themselves. 
Yet as the identity of the body is not changed by 
these real changes in its componet parts ; it affords 
another additional argument to prove, that the iden- 
tity of the body, and the identity of its parts are two 
distinct ideas. 

If then, these diminutive, yet real changes which 
perspiration occasions, may take place without 
occasioning any change in the identity of the body, 



l52 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. iV^ 

from which the particles exhale; why may not a 
much greater change take place, while the identity 
remains entire ? When the body of a corpulent 
man has been reduced to a mere skeleton by a fever, 
we may ask — is that body the same that it was be- 
fore ? In point of identity it most undoubtedly is the 
same, but in point of real numerical particles, it is 
undoubtedly much changed, and is become consid- 
erably different from what it was before. And, as 
the loss of particles reduced his body to that skele- 
ton at which I have just hinted ; so, when this per- 
son shall be recovered from his reduced state, and 
restored to his former corpulency, it must be by the 
acquisition of new particles which are now incorpo- 
rated in the system, in the room of those which the 
fever had wasted and exhaled. He must still pos- 
sess the same body, in point of identity, under all 
the variauon of health and sickness ; though per- 
haps not less than one third part of the particles 
which now compose his system is entirely new. 
The refined and subtle fibres, which united the 
identity of his body, to those portions of matter 
which were occasionally in the mass, were never se- 
parated from the immaterial prkiciple within. The 
adhesion must have continued through all those 
changes which the body had undergone ; and there- 
fore those parts, which were capable of being remov- 
ed, could have formed no part of its identity. 

That the identity of the man is still the same, will 
admit of decisive proof, from those successive acts 
of consciousness, which followed one another in re- 
gular order through sickness and health ; and which 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY* i$$ 

being the remotest act, anterior to his disease, into 
immediate contact with the present moment. And, 
as consciousness cannot be transferred from one prin- 
ciple, or system of atoms lo another, it never ca^ 
become evidence of facts, which, to it, did not ex- 
ist. But, as he is conscious of those actions which 
he had already performed ; so his present consci- 
ousness is not only an evidence of the existence of 
the fact itself, but a decisive evidence also of the 
continuance of his identity, during all those changes 
through which he had previously passed. 

We see then the vast alterations which sickness 
can produce, without affecting the identity of the 
body. We see also the surprising changes which 
an infant undergoes, from an embryo in the womb 
to a inaturity of years, and to hoary age ; through 
all the numberless variations to which in every stage 
of life the body has been exposed. And yet through 
all those changes, vi^hich either sickness or health 
produces ; which respiration, or effluvia, or perspi- 
ration can either separately or conjointly occasion, 
or which the embryo, from infancy to maturity can 
undergo ; the identity is still the same. 

A body, which is capable of preserving its iden- 
tity under such changes as we thus constantly ob- 
serve, may, without doubt undergo many more, 
while its identity will still remain ; and undergo 
such changes as will baffle all calculations, on the 
question of abstract possibility. The changes which 
it has undergone, and which it occasionally under- 
goes, are too evident to be denied ; and from what 
we have s^en, and what we see, we may safely pre* 



154 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

sume that more considerable changes are within 
the reach of possibility. But, to what extent these 
changes may take place without affecting the iden- 
tity of that body which undergoes these changes, I 
will not presume to say. The amputation of many 
parts may undoubtedly take place, while the iden- 
tity of that body (the parts of which are amputated) 
remains uninjured and entire. Nevertheless, ampu- 
tation must be confined in its application ; and as I 
have already observed, there must be some lines and 
boundaries beyond which amputation cannot pass. 

The hairs of our heads may without doubt be 
cut off; and the nails of our fingers and toes may 
also be taken away. And even if our fingers and 
toes were amputated also, 1 think no question could 
be made on the subject, that sameness in point of 
vital union with the immaterial spirit would still con- 
tinue, though the identity of the numerical particles 
would certainly be destroyed; and from those par- 
tial losses we may proceed to the amputation of 
legs and arms. If the amputation of these were to 
take place, I am still inclined to think, that the man 
would be the same, i. e. the self same intelligent, 
animated being, compounded of an immaterial spirit 
and an organized body, united to this spirit by means 
which we cannot comprehend, would remain not- 
withstanding the amputation of legs and arms. And, 
since the vital union between these two substances 
must remain, notwithstanding these amputations ; 
it plainly follows, that the identity of our bodies, and 
the identity of all their numerical parts, must be 
^distinct subjects, as well as distinct ideas, which can 



Scot. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. JL55 

have no necessary connection. For, as the amputa- 
tion of those parts will prove that the identity of the 
body still continues ; it plainly follows, that our idea 
of the identity or sameness of the body cannot be 
constituted by all those particles which had been 
vitally united to the corpv>real mass. From the vital 
union still remaining, this inference is placed be* 
yond the reach of doubt ; namely, that the principle 
of identity which resides within the body, under 
consideration, could not have been injured by the 
partial losses which the body had sustained ; al- 
though this principle of identity must now retire 
within narrower confines, than it occupied when the 
whole corporeal mass was perfect and entire. 

It is probable, however, that amputation cannot 
pass much further, without approaching the secret 
recesses, where those attenuated fibres are, which 
unite the different parts of the floating mass, in close 
and intimate connection with those particles which 
constitmte the identity of the body ; and which in 
all probability form some mysterious contact with 
the immortal spirit of man. The result of this rea- 
soning will, however, 1 flatter myself, be fufficient 
to prove, that the identity of the human body can- 
not be constituted by that which constitutes the 
identity of its numerical parts. The identity of the 
body must be a distinct idea ; it must consist in 
something which remains permanent, amidst the 
shocks of surrounding changes, and preserves its 
sameness through all the vicissitudes of human life. 



lis IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. ly. 



SECTION IV. 

The identity of the human Bodi^ more immediately 
considered. 

Having, in the preceding section, considered 
the human body in general, as a mass of matter in a 
state of perpetual change ; and having noticed that 
the amputation of many parts may actually take 
place, without affecting the permanent principle of 
its identity ; it is a question which now naturally 
rises before us : In what does the identity of the 
human body more immediately consist? 

That this identity cannot consist in all the nume- 
rical particles, which have occasionally been incor- 
porated in the system, I have already hinted; and 
that it cannot consist either in all those which shall be 
attached to the body in the moment of its interment, 
or in the majority of them, I shall hereafter attempt 
to prove. And that the identity of the body should 
consist in any mere modification, which all the parts 
might at any time, either in life or death assume, it 
would be the height of folly to suppose. 

From these circumstances, therefore, equally 
supported by reason and fact, as well as from the 
nature and constitution of the human body, we are 
urged to adopt this opinion. That there must be 
somewhere lodged ivithin it, some portion of immo- 
teable matter, from zvhich its general identity 



Sect. IV.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 157 

is denominated^ in all the variations , through xvhich 
the bodjj passes, in the devious mutations 0/ human 
life. 

The reasons, which have led to the adoption of 
this opinion will be adduced in a subsequent part 
of this discussion ; at present we shall only urge it 
as an hypothetical possibility, while we trace its co- 
incidence with the analogy of nature, and the vari- 
ous branches of phenomena, which are, in the dif- 
ferent stages of human existence, presented to our 
observation. The insuperable difficulties, which 
are attendant upon every other supposition, and in 
many cases the evident contradictions which would 
be involved in it, scarcely leave the mind at liberty 
to adopt any other hypothesis ; while even these ab- 
surdities, co-operating with the probabilities that 
appear in favour of the sentiment which we have 
adopted, become negative arguments to prove that 
some portions of matter must remain immoveable 
in the body of man. 

In these portions of immoveable matter, which 
must be equally removed from the influence of the 
atmosphere, from flucUiation, and from internal ten- 
dencies to decay, it is therefore highly probable that 
God has placed the identity of the human body ; and 
therefore to these portions we must look for that 
immoveable seat of bodily personality, which must 
necessarily continue inseparable from man. It is 
this principle, which must constitute the sameness 
of our bodies, under every change through which 
they may pass, and to which they may be exposed 



158 IDENTITY AN'D RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

in all the different stages of human life ; and it is 
to those portions of immoveable matter, in all pro- 
bability, that the immaterial spirit is united in the 
mysterious compact which subsists between these 
distant natures in the present life. 

Nor, perhaps, is the mysterious union the only 
object, which, on the present occasion, excites our 
notice. An indivisible spiritual substance, and a 
portion of corruptible matter, the parts of which 
have been rendered indissoluble by the power of 
the Almighty, may bear some resemblance to each 
other in the manner of their existence, how distant 
soever they may be in point of essence and incom- 
municable properties. In essence and properties 
they must be necessarily disdnct ; while in modes of 
existence there may exist a greater affinity between 
them, than we might be induced to imagine from a 
popular view of such remote extremes. And, in all 
probability, this portion of permanent matter, which 
through the original constitution of its nature, is 
placed beyond the influence of corruption and de^ 
cay ; affords us a striking emblem of that incorrup- 
lion to which our bodies shall be raised, when the 
echo of the last trumpet shall awaken man to per- 
petual life. 

In that peaceful region no destructive atmosphere 
shall assail the body, and here we behold this porliivi 
of matter secured from its innovations. TJiere no 
death can approach our bodies, and here \S\\% portion 
is placed beyond its influence and power. There all 
Uie parts of our bodies shall adhere for ever, and 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. . ^,5^ 

here this portion is inaccessible to dissolution and 
decay. There all will be permanent^ and here this 
portion is inichangeable. In fine, beyond the grave 
all the parts of our future bodies shall enjoy that 
exemption from calamities, which seems here afford- 
ed only to a part ; and be possessed for ever, in ways 
and modes which are at present totally unknown. 

To this portion of immoveable matter, in which I 
have presumed the identity of the body to be placed, 
and which is now lodged within its confines ; those 
accessory atoms which we acquire through the me- 
dium of nutrition, in all probability, adhere ; and it 
is more than probable, that this present seat of per- 
sonality will become a germ of future life, and be 
that principle which shall either unfold its latent in- 
volutions, and expand wholly into that body which 
shall be, or collect those wandering atoms which 
will be necessary to give completion to the corporeal 
frame, when the voice of the archangel shall awaken 
the dead to life. Of the modifications, which mat- 
ter is capable of undergoing, we know but a diminu- 
tive part ; nor can our knowledge on this subject 
be complete until we are acquainted with its essence. 
And, from this circumstance of our comparative ig- 
norance, resulting from the limitation of our facul- 
ties, it may not be irrational to suppose, that this 
indissoluble portion of matter which now consti- 
tutes the identity of the body, may even contain at 
present within it, the constituent parts of that body 
w^hich shall put on incorruption, v.' hen mortality 
shall be swallowed up in lilQ. 



16*) IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV^ 

To know the dimensions, the texture, the confi- 
guration, and the place of residence, of this portion 
of immoveable matter, might perhaps be highly gra- 
tifying to the curiosity of man ; but diat such know- 
ledge would be of any real use to us, may well ad- 
mit of considerable doubt. Perhaps the acuteness 
of those organs, which would enable us to become 
intimately acquainted with the internal constitution 
of its nature, together with those adhesive powers 
by which its various parts are connected, would 
deprive us of their utiliy in practical life ; 010" ig- 
norance therefore of these points is probably a ne- 
cessary consequence of our present mode of being. 
It is therefore wisdom and not defect in the econo- 
my of heaven, to reveal unto us such knowledge 
only as is necessary to our present condition, and to 
conceal the rest in imT)enetrable darkness. 

i. 

From our established modes of associating our 
ideas, we have obtained a ger^eral conclusion that 
in all portions of matter solidity is necessary to du- 
ration ; and hence we annex the idea of durability 
to all material objects, in proportion to the solidity 
of their contents. But, whether this established as- 
sociation be i^ccording to truth, may well deserve 
our consideration ; for, certain it is that solidity and 
durability are distinct ideas, which perhaps have no 
other real connection than that which subsists in our 
own minds. 

If Gjd were to create two portions of matter, of 
equal dimensions, but of different degrees of solidity, 
so different that no assignable proportion could be 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 161 

found between them ; it is obvious that the real 
solid contents of the one, would in due proportion 
exceed those of the other. In this view it is evi- 
dent that there must be a proportionally greater 
quantity of adhesion in the parts of the solid, than 
in those of the other portion of matter. And con- 
sequently, the more solid portion must be further 
removed than the other, from the primary state of 
those particles which compose both. That portion 
therefore which approached nearest to the primary 
state, must be less liable to dissolution than the 
other; and consequently would be less exposed to 
its influence and power. For, if matter in its most 
simple state be incapable of decay, a portion which 
approaches near to this state, must be less exposed 
to the possibili^y of change than one which is fur- 
ther removed from it ; and the same reasoning will 
hold good in a progressive movement, until we ap- 
proach the most complex forms of possible modifi- 
cation. And, although all matter must be alike 
removed from annihilation ; yet the most complex 
forms of substances must be capable of the greatest 
changes, and must undergo a greater process of 
dissolution than others, before they can be reduced 
to their prestine elements and forms. 

That the air which we constantly respire is a body 
purely material, will admit of little doubt; but what- 
ever may be the internal constitution of its nature, 
it appears certain that the particles of which it is 
composed, preserve their relation to one another 

y 



16^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. IV. 

with a certainty equal to that of more solid, and im- 
penetrable substances. And, yet, notwithstanding 
this volatility and elasticity, which we constantly 
discover, no reasonable man, perhaps, ever imagin- 
ed the atmosphere to be as much exposed to the 
power of dissolution as even a flint or a diamond. 
However elastic and yielding the atmosphere may 
appear, it is e> idently as permanent and immoveable 
as any portion of matter with which we are acquaint- 
ed ; and this circumstance plainly proves, that soli- 
dity in texture is not absolutely necessary to the du- 
rability of those material substances with which we 
are encircled, and which now engross our thoughts. 
It is perhaps in a manner somewhat analagous to 
air, that those permanent principles of the human 
body exists, in w^hich I have supposed its identity 
to consist ; but which, on that account, can be no 
more liable to dissolution, than the atmosphere, to 
which, m modes of existence, it may probably be 
allied. And though to this portion of immoveable 
Kiatter the different particles of flesh and blood oc- 
casionally adhere, during the various stages of our 
natural lives; yet, as they are in a state of perpetual 
fluctuation, adhering to the system, retiring from it, 
and then adhering anew ; they can form no part of 
that immoveable portion, in which identity or same- 
ness must consist. And since these accessory par- 
ticles which are in a state of perpetual mutation, can 
form no part of that portion which is permanent ; it 
is highly probable, that, when the hour of death shall 
be succeeded by dissolution, these floating particle? 



Sfect.lV*] OF THE HUMAN BODY. i$.3 

will drop ofF; and resuming their primary state, 
leave at last this portion unclothed and totally bepa- 
rated from all extraneous matter. 

Divested of all extraneous matter, it is probably 
in its own nature so constituted, that it becomes in- 
capable of incorporating with any other animal sub- 
stances ; incapable of affording any nutrition, or of 
filling up any vacuity in the animal systems of other 
bodies. In this state of separation it may lie repos- 
ing in the grave in an apparently dormant condition, 
equally inaccessible to all violence, and removed 
from all decay. The accidents indeed which float 
on the stream of time, may tend to disturb its tran- 
quility, and dislodge it from its gloomy mansion ; 
in this case it may float in the breeze for a season, 
or it may be wafted into distant regions with the 
adverse winds of heaven ; but change of station can 
never affect the permanency of its nature. Remov- 
ed from the influence of gravitation, through the 
elementary principles of its constitution, it will be 
able to make no resistence to external bodies ; and 
rendered too subtile for our organs of vision, it may 
elude all discernment ; becoming at once impercep- 
tible to sight and touch. And, while in this naked 
state, abandoned by its immaterial partner, and 
separated from all those cumbrous particles of flesh 
and blood, which now clothe and adhere to it ; it 
must remain without aflfording any evidences of its 
existence, till the arrival of the great day of retri- 
bution, when resuming its medium office, or new 
condition, it shall be re- united to its immortal 



164 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap, IV. 

partner, never to be separated from it again through 
eternity. 

In the mean while, the particles, of which it is 
composed, may be so closely united in all its stages 
of existence, that nothing but the power of God 
peculiarly exerted can dissolve the compact; while 
nothing but a total dissolution of its internal consti- 
tution can destroy its nature. For, though a pecu- 
liar application of Almighty power, might divide 
these minute atoms of which it is composed : such a 
division will neither destroy its nature, nor reduce 
it to a level with other portions of animal matter. 
The separation indeed of these parts will totally de- 
stroy all advantitinus solidity ; but the reason why 
the permanency of its nature must still remain, is, 
because the perpetuity of being which is included in 
its naiure, arises not from the peculiar adhesion of 
its parts, but from the indissolubleness of its nature. 
Capable of yielding without receiving any violent 
impression, it may, from the flexibility of its nature, 
occasionally assume a variety of forms. To con- 
traction and expansion it may be alike indifferent ; 
while it may be capable of undergoing such modes 
as never yet attracted the notice of the human eye. 
But, though all matter is capable of divisibility, 
which through the application of infinite power, this 
also must be capable of undergoing; yet whether di- 
vided or entire, its nature will be still the same. It is 
itself, and itself a!one, under every possible connec- 
tion and form ; though in a divided state the distan- 
ces which it may occupy may be local and distinct. 



Sect. IV.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 165 

Having admitted that this portion of matter may 
probably possess a contracting and an expansive 
power, it may perhaps be inquired, *' To what ex^ 
tent is it capable of expanding ? and to what mi* 
nuteness is it capable of contracting itself?" 

To these questions the most rational reply per- 
haps that can be given is, that the compages of the 
body form the exterior confiaes of its active elasti- 
city, and beyond these boundaries it cannot possibly 
pass, through the limitation of its nature and its 
name. While, on the contrary, it may, when actu* 
ally separated from its immaterial partner, and from 
all adhesive matter, be capable of contracting itself 
to such minuteness as may forever elude our re- 
searches, and be come totally invisible to all discern- 
ment, except that of God. 

The capability of the expansion and compression 
of matter, we well know, is considerable ; but we 
know not with certainty the full extent of either ; 
because we are neither fully acquainted with its es- 
sence, nor with the nature of porous bodies. It is 
therefore not improbable to conjecture, that the spe- 
cific quantity of matter v*'hich is included in that 
portion w^hich constitutes the identity of the human 
body, may be on the one hand, when divested of 
pores, and reduced within the confines of the least 
possible space on the other, too minute for our dis- 
cernment, our comprehension, or even our concep- 
tion. While, on the contrary, either by these natural 
instinctive powers, which a portion of matter thus or- 
ganized may possess; or from that direction which 
it may immediately receive from the immaterial spi- 



U6 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV* 

rit with which it is in close alliance, it may elude 
through the whole progress of human life, those 
accidents and misfortunes to which the gross mate- 
rials are exposed. And, by partially retiring into 
those recesses which are provided for its safety, by 
dilating or contracting, as circumstances shall di- 
rect the immaterial spirit, which must be its guide ; 
it shall remain perfect and entire through all the mu- 
tations, amputations, and changes through which 
the body passes, from an embryo in the womb, to 
full maturity and hoary age. 

But, when the immaterial principle shall be sep- 
arated from its union with this portion, and retire 
within the confines of a future world, it is not im- 
probable that this principle of identity will retire 
within itself by an innate contraction, which results 
from the absence of its immaterial partner, which is 
now presumed to have taken its flight. In this case, 
the natural result must be, that the whole mass, be- 
reft of its spiritual inhabitant, which diffused this 
principle of identity through its remotest parts, 
which has, through the loss of its spiritual director, 
retired also from its diffused station, and deposited 
itself within some inaccessible confine ; the natural 
result, I say, must be, that the praticles.of matter 
which composed the whole system, now deprived 
by these means of their animating cement, become 
no longer adhesive, but drop gradually away through 
corruption into their primitive elements to mingle, 
devoid of life, and of that association which gave to 
us the idea of body, with the common masses of 
matter never dignified with life. 



S 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 167 

Nevertheless, in the midst of these probable con- 
jectures, while this principle of identity, in union 
with the spirit in the present life, must be considered 
as different through the corporeal mass ; we cannot 
avoid thinking, that by some ligaments or attenuated 
fibres, it must be united to several, perhaps, medi- 
ately or immediately, to all the parts of the gros^s 
materials, and that through this medium it must be 
confined within the superfices of the adhering parts, 
from which it cannot be separated without occasion- 
ing immediate death. And from hence it appears 
probable also, that whatever the nature of those 
filaments may be, the violence which will separate 
them from the gross and fluctuating parts to which 
they are in some places united, must break at the 
same time the connection between the principle of 
identity itself, and the immaterial spirit, to which it 
is united, both by contact and manner of existence. 

The continuance of this principle of bodily iden- 
tity amidst the shocks of life, and the desolation of 
surrounding parts, is not the decision of theory but 
of fact ; and its preservation amidst the ravages of 
death may be inferred from just analogy. And 
though from hence it will follow, that it is capable 
of a separate state of existence, w^hen perfectly dis- 
united from all other matter and from spirit, yet it 
will not follow, that it will possess any active energy, 
or be capable of loco-motion. In this state of total 
separation, it can have nothing more than a kind of 
vegetative exhtence, totally destitute of animal pow- 
ers. 



\ 



168 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap IV. 

Shrivelled, and folded in itself, it must retire to 
mix with common matter, and continue in a torpid 
state ; in which it may undergo in a way and man- 
ner which surpass our comprehensions, a passive 
process somewhat analogous to that of a germinating 
atom, which is included in grain. And in this slate 
it may ripen towards the grand result of things, 
when it shall come forth in a matured state, — unfold 
all its latent powers, — put forth all its bloom, — and 
flourish throughout eternity. 

Should, however, the doctrine of its separate and 
abstract existence be applied to the present life 
while the common appendages of l)ody are in close 
connection with it, we cannot but conclude, that it 
must on that account be erroneous. In this connec- 
tion no distinct existence can be assigned to it, inde- 
pendently of that general state of being, which it 
possesses in common with nerves, and muscles, and 
flesh, and blood. And as no distinct mode of ex- 
istence can be assigned to the component parts of 
the body, and to the identity of that body, the latter 
must be included in the former ; both must be in- 
cluded in our general idea of body, the whole of 
which becomes necessary, when we consider it as 
applying to the material part of man. 

It may perhaps be asked, ** In what does the 
identity of that leg- or arm consist, which I have 
supposed may be amputated, v»ithout destroying the 
identity of that body from whence it was taken V^ 
To this question I would reply, that as no two, 
parts of an individual man can survive their separa* 



feect. IV.i OF tHE HUMAN BODY. 169 

lion from each other, it is natural to conclude that 
only one identity of that body can exist ; and con- 
sequently, the amputated part can have no other 
identity than that which consists either in the nume- 
rical parts of which it is composed, or in the modi- 
fication which those parts had assumed, and from 
whence we had derived that complex idea. 

And hence then arises the unreasonableness of 
supposing that any particular idea of bodily per* 
sonality can be annexed to any amputated part. 
For, when any part is separated from that cotAmon 
union in which the identity of the body resides, it 
is bereft of that principle, or portion of matter, from 
which its identity was denominated, and from which 
it partook of the general name. It now possesses 
no rallying point ; its particles now join in no com* 
mon union ; and therefore can have no other iden- 
tity than that which consists in numerical particles, 
or the modification of them. It now no longer en- 
joys an union with those parts with which it was 
before connected, and through which it enjoyed an 
interest in that common point of union of which it is 
now deprived, but without life, and without a nat- 
ural centre of adherence, it drops into corruption, 
and mingles with common dust. 

In this utmost division of body, which can take 
place, without a privation of life ; that portion in 
which its identity is lodged, while retaining its union 
with the immaterial principle, must be that to which 
the vital atoms adhere, and which through their ad* 
herence must become the centre of resort, to all 



170 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. IV. 

those particles, which, from time to time incorpo- 
rate in the system, and occasionally fill up those va- 
cancies which accident, insensible perspiration, or 
some diminutive acts of amputation might have 
made. While on the contrary we cannot annex to 
any amputated part the idea even of animation, un- 
less we first suppose the part in question to be united 
to some other portion of matter, possessed of that 
peculiar organization which is necessary to give us 
the idea of animal life. God, no doubt could give 
to tilts amputated part all the organs which are ne- 
cessary to the functions of dependent beings. But 
then it must be remembered, that in such case it 
will be no longer either leg or arm, but a distinct 
individual of some unknown species of being, for 
which we, perhaps, have not a name. 



Sect, i.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. m 



CHAP. V. 

ON THE ANALOGY BETWEEN VEGETATION AND 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE HUMAN BOi)Y. 

SECTION I. 

That the Doctrine of the Resurrection has fewer 
Difficulties than the DoctriJie oj Vegetation, 

Whatever difficulties may seem to clog the doc- 
trine of the resurrection, they are neither greater in 
themselves, nor more in number, than nature exhib- 
its in almost all her works. It is true, that the con- 
stant repetition of a wonder, invariably tends to les- 
sen our astonishment, and we continue to gaze till 
we behold with the most perfect indifference the 
most astonishing events, as the common occurren- 
ces of our present state. 

The power and process of vegetation, which are 
constantly exhibited before our eyes, includes se- 
crets which we cannot unravel ; and when viewed 
with an attentive observation, discover mysteries 
which are by far more unaccountable than any 
which are contained in the belief that our bodies 
shall be re-animated in some future period, after 
the great recess of nature in the grave shall have 
passed and be totally done away. 



\7% IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

If we -confine our observations, on the analogy 
between vegetation and the resurrection, to vegeta- 
tion in its most simple state ; and only presume 
that one grain shall, through its corruption, pro-» 
duce another similar to itself, we must at least ac- 
knowledge in this case, that the difficulties will be 
equal ; and we can no more account for the one 
than we can comprehend the other. But, when ta 
this simple state of vegetation, which we have sup- 
posed, we add that p wer of multiplication which 
it possesses, and which we constantly perceive ir^ 
the production and re-produciion of grain ; the dif- 
ficuities which approach us are most decidedly on 
the part of vegetation, while the doctrine of the re- 
surrectiop stands, comparatively, unembarrassed 
with any obstacles which can forbid belief. 

If the power and process of vegetation were only 
known in theory ; and if that theory had asserted, 
that one grain of wheat was capable of producing 
another new grain by the dissolution of its compo- 
nent parts; if, this, I say, had been asserted in the- 
ory, only, without any correspondent fact to verify 
the de laration, the assertion would even in that case 
h^vc had greater impiobabilities to overcome than 
the doctrine of the resurrection has now. For, as 
nothing of a similar nature would have preceded it 
in point of fact and time, even the possibility of rea- 
lizing such a theory would be rendered doubtful, 
and scepticisH'. might have smiled at the idle vision, 
with the same Sadducean sneer, that it now bestows 
upon the notion of a resurrection of the dead. 

But, if in that early period which we have sup* 



ftcct. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 173 

posed, the asserters of future vegetation, proceeding 
further in their speculations, had declared, that by- 
some incomprehensible, but prolific power existing 
in naiure, one grain of wheat should actually pro- 
duce sixtij or one hundred grains^ of equal, magni- 
tude and beauty with itself; and this too, through 
a process which threatened the inevitable destruc» 
tion of all ; I cannot doubt but sceptical men, 
forming their calculations from mere possibility, 
would have exploded such a declaration as some- 
thing too romantic and visionary to occupy a 
rational mind. For as the certainty of vegetation 
pould not in this case, have been realized by fact, 
which is the most infallible demonstration of theory ; 
there could have been no foundation, on which the 
mind could rest to form its calculations on the pos- 
sibility of such an issue ; — a foundation, which is 
in the case of the resurtection, all nature annually 
supplies by analogy. 

Hence then it follows, that more probability 
must now rest on the side of the resurrection, if it 
were to be asserted that one human body should 
produce sixty, or one hundred bodies, of equal mag- 
nitude and beauty with itself, from that which is 
now sown in the earth, to be the germ of future 
life ; than could, in the case supposed, have rested 
upon the vegetation and production of grains the 
certainty of which is demonstrated by fact. For, 
had an objection been stated against the possibility 
of the fact, in ihe case of vegetation ; as nature 
could have furnished no analogy in its favour, the 
objection must have remained in all its force ; and 



174 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

plausibility mxiaX have rested on the side of incredu- 
lity, and have given a sanction to error without af- 
foidiniJ It any delence. But, were it now to be as- 
sercvd» that one human body shall produce six f^/, or 
one huri(hed, in the great harvest of human nature, 
as we have the analogy of vegetation before us, the 
fact Itself would be rescued from the charge of 
being an imnossibUity ; and, on that account, when 
compared with vegetation, in its primary state, must 
have a dec!ded claim upon our belief. 

Under these circumstances, and this view of the 
comparison, though the doctrine of the resurrection 
has been placed under disadvantages which have no 
existence, the result even under these forbidding 
circumstances appears highly favourable ; and the 
fact has every advantage over that which is annually 
accomplished, with which it has been compared. 

If then that which is the more improbable of the 
two cases be actually accomplished ; have we just 
reason to remain in doubt about that which is the 
less? If the mysterious multiplication of grain an- 
nually takes place for the use and support of man ; 
can we really disbelieve the certainty of those 
change s which shall take place in man himself; for 
whose benefit all other changes have been made ; 
and to whose purposes vegetation has been made in- 
variably subservient? Surely, such conclusions 
cannot result from the decisions of reason. The 
events which have already taken place, demonstrate 
the possibility of the fact, and deprive infidelity of 
those arguments which are necessary to urge us to 
disbelieve, 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 175 

Hitherto the comparison has been considered un» 
der the supposition, that one body will produce one 
hundred ; and even in this light, admitting the sup- 
position to have been founded upon fact, the pro- 
cess of nature will furnish us with ample instances 
to justify our belief. For, though we might plead 
that we know not how a fact so strange should be 
Accomplished ; yet the w^ant of ability to compre- 
hend, can no more be admitted as an argument 
against the resurrection under all these disadvanta- 
ges, than the same circumstance can be admitted as 
an argument against the productions of the soil. 
In the process of nature, we have placed before us 
the certainty of the fact, in the ca^e of vegetation ; 
and this certainly becomes a presumptive argument 
in favour of the great event which yet remains to be 
verified by accomplishment ; probability, therefore, 
directs us in our decisions, and just analogy re- 
moves the hindrances to our belief. 

But if we wave these conclusions and that com- 
parison, which, for the sake of argument, have been 
adopted, and turn our thoughts to the doctrine as 
we really expect to find it verified by fact, namely, 
that one individual body sown in weakness, shall 
be one individual body raised in power ; the argu- 
ment, drawn from the analogy of vegetation, ap- 
pears in favour of the resurrection, with the most 
decided superiority. For, while the multiplication 
of grain clogs vegetation with difficulties, which no- 
thing but fact could overcome : we have in the case 
of the resurrection but one obstacle, and even this 
appears to have been removed by analogy drawn 



\76 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V^. 

from a simple process of nature, putting forth her 
prolific influence and power. 

i he cipparent corruption, to which a grain when 
deposited in the earth is exposed, and which it ac- 
tually undergoes, is demonstrated by fact, to be no- 
thing more than the removal of exuviafc which is 
necessary to the dawnings of latent life. And, in like 
manner we may reasonably presume, that the por- 
tion of immoveable matter which now constitutes the 
identity of the body, and is destined to become the 
germ of future life, will vegetate in the grave whert 
disencumbered of all the particles of fltsh and blood 
which now inclose and surround it. And if analogy 
mi.y be permitted to become our guide, We may 
justi- inier, th it it wiJ ripen through the mysterious 
process of dissolution, till the hour appointed for 
the general resurrection, when it shall come forth a 
glorious body to remain forever : and, leaving be- 
hind it those extraneous parts, which are essential 
to our existence here, but inapplicable to our future 
mode of being, it shall be cemented to its immate- 
rial partner, in an union that shall never end. 

If we turn our thoughts in a retrospective manner 
to the original ancestors of man, and 1 ok back to a 
period anterior to the production of grain ; we can- 
not but conclude that they must iiave been precisely 
in the same situation with respect to their opinions 
of vegetation, and the resurrection of the human 
body, when both cases arc considered in the abstract 
only. But, in a relative view, their descendants 
have a most decided advantage. They could have 
had no guide from the analogy of nature, to indues 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. ^rt 

a belief, that what was once deposited in the earth 
and consigned over to corruption, would ever spring 
forth anew ; whereas the fact is annually exhibited 
before us ; and we are taught to believe that what 
has been thus accomplished in the case of grain will 
be accomplished also in the case of our bodies at 
the resurrection ; and by the same power which 
hourly bids all nature vegetate, ^nd planetary 
worlds revolve. 

To such comparisons and sentiments it may per- 
haps be objected, ** That the vegetation returns at 
regular and stated periods ; and that those periodic, 
cal returns of seasons furnish the mind with evi- 
dence, on which to rest its expectations and belief." 
How plausible soever this objection may appear, it 
is evidently founded upon a local and contracted 
survey. Encircled with appearances, we may per- 
mit it to operate upon our minds ; but when placed 
upon its proper foundation, it will be found fallaci- 
ous, inapplicable, and absurd. 

Had man been in existence when vegetation first 
began, he could have had no knowledge from fact, 
-of those regular returns of seasons which we expe- 
rience ; and consequently the argument now before 
us, could not then have applied, because it could 
not have had any existence. It was only a lapse of^ 
stated periods that could have suggested to them 
those ideas, on which the objection is founded ; but 
which could then have had no influence whatever 
upon their minds. And, so repugnant must this 
fact then have been to all human mode^ of abstract 



irs IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V- 

reasoning, that nothing but ocular demonstration 
could have determined in favour of these certain- 
ties wh)ch now appear. 

And indeed, if we only alter the aera and bring 
home the case to the present day, it will appear pre- 
cisely the same. If God were to create a man at 
this moment in a sti\te of perfect maturity, with all 
his faculties and intellectual powers in perfect 
bloom, but at the same time totally ignorant of the 
productions of nature ; would this man, I would 
ask, have any idea of the powers of vegetation? 
Could he conceive the thing possible, that one grain 
should be capable of producing another, and that 
through the very medium which proved its destruc- 
tion ? It is a self-evident case, that under these cir- 
cumstances, nothing but time or information could 
have communicated to him this knowledge. 

In relation to the resurrection alone, we are now 
precisely in the same situation. The first man in- 
deed that was actually created, must have been, in 
darkness with respect to the production of grain, 
until the first harvest had made its appearance. 
But we, having had experience of the fact, pursue 
a train of analogical reasoning, which we transfer 
to the resurrection of the body ; and obtain through 
this medium a species of evidence which impresses 
conviction on our reasoning powers. 

We are now in the infancy of our being ; and we 
look forward to a future harvest, with a pleasing 
commixture of certainty and hope. We walk, with 
respect to rational evidence, in the twilight of our 
future day, upon those margins which divide dark- 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 179 

ness from light, while they apparently connect 
them together. In this region we stumble perhaps 
over a thousand errors, which might have been ea- 
sily avoided, if our organs had been more acute, our 
understandings more penetrating ; or, if God had 
thought proper to give us light, where, for wise 
ends, he has permitted us to walk in shade. 
But, when these shadows shall be dispersed, and the 
great harvest of human nature shall arrive ; when 
" beauty immortal shall awake from the tomb,'* 
and the great enemy of man shall be destoyed ; 
then shall we behold the various movements of Al- 
mighty power and goodness towards us, which we 
cannot now fully comprehend ; and, probably, trace 
through all its parts, that perfect analogy which 
subsists between the happy subject of illustration 
which St. Paul has chosen, and the resurrection of 
the body from the sleep of death. 



SECTION. II. 

That all objections usually advanced against the 
Doctrine of the Resurrection, may he advanced 
against the doctrine of Vegetation. 

There is perhaps, in the vast empire of created 
nature, scarcely any subject to be found more appro- 
priate in all its parts, to illustrate the important doc- 
trine of the resurrection of the dead, than the pro- 
duction of a plant from grain, which St. Paul has 



im IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

SO happily selected. (1 Cor. xv.) The objections, 
which may be advanced against the former, are alike 
applicable to the latter ; but in this case fact has 
deprived them of all their force. 

However plausible such objections may be in 
themselves, which will apply with equal force, 
against the process of vegetation, and the resurrec- 
tion of the dead ; it is evident that they must be 
delusive and unsound. The actual existence of 
vegetation proves, that all objections against it, 
liowever specious, must necessarily be fallacious ; 
and this circumstance furnishes us with a strong 
presumptive evidence, that the application of these 
objections to the resurrection must assuredly be 
unjust. For, certain it is, that in proportion as the 
analogy between the resurrection of the body, and 
the production of grain can be established ; every 
argument of a partial nature must be abolished," and 
while the actual existence of vegetation demon- 
strates its certainty, those arguments which are of 
a general nature can no longer apply. And, if nei- 
ther general nor particular arguments will apply ; if 
those which are general, are refuted by the exist- 
ence of vegetation, and those which are particular 
by the analogy which subsists between the resurr 
rection and the production of grain ; all our objec- 
tions immediately vanish, and the presumptive evi- 
dence which we draw from the certainty of vegeta- 
' tion, will establish the doctrine of the resurrection 
upon a basis not easily to be destroyed. 

It is, probably, on these considerations that argn- 
ments of a general nature are rarely brought against 



Sect. II.J OF THE HUMAN BODV. ui 

the resurrection of the dead. In the visible produc- 
tions of nature they would meet a decided answer, 
and be immediately defeated in their primary de- 
sign. But, where an objection can be started on the 
ground of incongruity between the process of vege-' 
tation and the resurrection ; it affords the most fa- 
vourable opportunity for attacking the doctrine ; 
and it is from this quarter that the most plausible 
objections, and the most specious arguments are 
advanced. If, therefore, the resemblance between 
the production of grain and the doctrine in question; 
between the doctrine of St. Paul, and the, examples 
which he has chosen to illustrate it, can be estab- 
lished ; every objection which can be raised must 
be resolved into a declaration, that it surpasses our 
comprehension j while the fact itself, in the produc- 
tions of nature, will afford us perpetual evidence of 
certainty, till seed time and harvest, till cold and 
heat, till day and night shall be no more. 

It is, perhaps, from a persuasion of incongruity 
between vegetation and the resurrection, that it has 
been asserted, that '* the time while the seed is de- 
posited in the earth, can bear no proportion to the 
length of that period, during which the body is de- 
posited in the grave." In point of duration, I grant 
that there is no proportion ; but I cannot conceive 
that this circumstance will add any weight to the 
objection before us. Even different species of the 
vegetable tribes vary in the periods of their continu- 
ance in the earth before they vegetate ; the exam- 
ple of no one species can determine the necessary 



rsa IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

duration of another, or fix those lines beyond which 
the powers of nature shall cease to operate. Much 
less then can we presume, from our knowledge of 
vegetation, where we thus behold one species so 
considerably differing from another, to fix the length 
of that period in which the body must be lodged 
in the grave, before it can be ripened for the har- 
vest of mankind. 

That certain portions of time elapse, during which 
both the grain and the human body are deposited 
in the earth, before either discovers any signs of 
returning Lfe, is a truth which no one can deny ; 
and the only point, which can create a difference in 
opinion, is, how far these portions of duration ought 

tofx the limits of each other? 

If God be able to preserve the germinating qua* 
lity of a grain of wheat, though but for one day, 
while the component parts of the grain itself arc 
sinking into a state of dissolution, which no man 
can deny, he can in the same manner preserve it for 
two days ; and if so, he can for the same reason, pre- 
serve it for two months, for two years, or for two 
centuries. And, the selfsame power operating upon 
the selfsame substance, can produce, whensoever it 
pleases, the same effect, through all the varied 
modes of possibility ; without having any respect 
whatever to the limits of duration. 

From hence then the analogy will hold good, in 
the application of this principle to the preservation 
of those parts, which shall constitute our future 
bodies. For, as God preserves the germinating 



Sect. 11.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 18S 

power of the grain, when sown in the earth, through 
a given period; he can upon the same principle 
preserve the body through the same extent of time. 
And, as God can and actually does preserve the 
grain for several months, before it appears in the 
future harvest ; we cannot doubt his power to pre- 
serve the human body in the grave, through ihe 
same extent of duration. 

And if, when both seed and body are deposited 
in the earth, God should be pleased to suspend the 
process of future life in either ; no one, who will 
admit his power to be infinite, can doubt his ability 
to accomplish that design ; nor question his ability 
at the same time, to preserve the germinating quali- 
ties of both, while the component parts of each are 
scattered abroad and permitted to wander in a state 
of dissolution. And, if God can suspend the pro- 
cess of vegetation for one month, while he preserves 
the germinating quality perfect and entire ; he can 
preserve it for one year, for five hundred, or for any 
given period w^hich lies within the reach of numbers. 

So far as these observations apply to grain, we 
are, perhaps, ready to give them our assent ; but 
even here we admit the probability of the case, 
from the partial certainty which we have presented 
to us in fact ; but beyond this scepticism of the hu- 
man mind, the fact itself will hardly permit us t© 
pass. It is nevertheless certain, when we view these 
probabilities in their abstract nature ; that they are 
not exclusively confined to the vegetative powers 
of grain. Omnipotence can exert itself in every 
direction ; and, since the human body includes not 



184 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION. [Chap. V. 

within its nature properties more opposed to future 
life, than that grain which is annually re-produced ; 
the length of time, during which the body is depo- 
sited in the earth, can form no argument to destroy 
the analogy between the resurrection and vegetation. 

As, therefore, God can preserve the grain through 
any given period ; he can without all doubt preserve 
the body through the same extent of duration. 
And the same power which can preserve all that is 
essential to either for two months ; can, by extend- 
ing the same exertion, preserve both through any 
given portion of duration. And this power, conse- 
quently, can preserve, during our repose in the 
grave, all that is necessary to constitute our future 
bodies, without involving any thing of greater diffi- 
culty, than is included in the preservation of that 
grain which is deposited in the earth for the ensu- 
ing harvest. 

With God 07ie day must he as a thousand years^ 
and a thousand years as one day. The fleeting pe- 
riods of perishing duration can, therefore, have no 
relation to him. Our local and finite notions must 
be applied to local and finite objects ; while what- 
ever is infinite must be removed at an infinite dis- 
tance from these views. 

If successive existence were to apply to God, he 
must have been older yesterday than he was the 
day preceding ; and must have been younger on 
both than he is to-day, or than he will be to-morrow. 
There can be no way to avoid these conclusions ; 
and yet if we once admit them, they will immedi- 



Beet. It.] OF tHE HUMAN BODV. 185 

ately lead us to deny the eternity of his existence. 
But, as such conclusions cannot be admitted, it foU 
lows, that successive existence cannot apply to him ; 
and, consequently, one day must be loith him as a 
thousand yearsi^ and a thousand years as one day» 

And, to that being, with whom one day and a 
thousand years are alike, the influence of time can 
never reach; And consequently, whether it be a 
grain of wheat or a human body deposited in the 
earth ; and whether it be for two days, or two thou- 
sand years, the nature of the case cannot be thereby 
affected. Every objection, therefore, which may 
be made against the incongruity of the cases, or the 
disproportion of time ; whether it applies to the ger- 
minating parts of a grain, or to that immoveable 
portion of matter which constitutes the identity of 
the human body, must vanish into empty air. 

It may, perhaps, in the next place be asserted, 
" that where the grain is deposited in the earth, it 
instantly begins to vegetate, which is a circumstance 
that will not apply to the human body ;'* and from 
hence it may be objected, that " between vegeta- 
tion and the resurrection all analogy is destroyed," 
That the above observation will apply to the grain, 
when deposited in the earth, I believe no one will 
presume to doubt ; but that this is a case which will 
not apply to the human body, is a point which I 
conceive it will be difficult to prove. 

Of the grand process of nature we know but a 
little part ; and in a variety of cases, her movements 
are so slow that her active energies are almost im- 
perceptible. How slow must the great progress of 

Bb 



L86 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

nature have been, which has preserved the seminal 
parts of all the future embryos of the human race, 
through all the antediluvian ages ; and which has 
been perpetually at work to ripen these seminal 
parts into embryos; and which still continues at 
work to ripen these embryos into man ? Who can 
trace the tardy movements of nature, in these, and 
in a variety of similar instances ? If then these 
tardy movements have been, and still are necessary, 
to ripen the seminal parts into an embryo, and this 
embryo into man ; why may we not rationally sup- 
pose, that the same tardy movements may continue 
to follow us in the grave ; to ripen our bodies for 
their future harvest, and to prepare them for their 
destined habitations. 

The identical moment in which nature commen- 
ces her operations, is probably in all cases too refin- 
ed for our discernment ; on which account we can 
never fix with exactness the original moment of ac- 
tion. Nothing, however, appears irrational in the 
supposition, that the preparation of our bodies for 
their future resurrection, commences immediately 
after the fleeting breath forsakes the trembling lips. 
It may begin in the same, or in a manner somewhat 
similar to that of a grain, which begins to vegetate 
as soon as it is sown in the prolific earth. 

That we cannot perceive its movements in either 
case, I most readily admit. Our organs of percep- 
tion are rather adapted to our present condition, 
than to those distant branches of action, which bor- 
der on perpetual life. But, our want of perception 
in these cases, can no more be admitted as an argu- 



Srcct. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 18^ 

ment against progressive movement ; than our want 
of comprehension in others can be admitted as an 
argument against fact. 

The secret changes which imperceptibly take 
place in our bodies, while in the grave ; are, without 
doubt, all necessary to bring forth into perfection 
that body which shall be ; and the grave in all pro- 
bability, is to us the great alembic of nature and of 
God, to fix the constitution of our future bodies, 
and to qualify those bodies for their immortal state. 
In this peaceful region of the dead, the latent pow- 
ers and faculties, which in an embryo condition lie 
dormant, inactive, and imperceptible in our present 
state, may begin to put forth their energies and 
powers, in ways and modes of which we can form 
no adequate conception. Removed from the pre- 
sent life to a region more congenial to their natures, 
they may begin to bud in the cold embrace of death, 
and put forth those blossoms which shall become 
visible in the hour of our resurrection, and flourish 
through eternity. 

The various stages, through which we have al- 
ready passed in our embryo state, have all conspired 
to produce this state of imperfect maturity, at which 
we are now arrived ; and from hence we may justly 
infer, that the great process will be carried onward 
during our repose in the grave, to ripen us for a 
more exalted state of perfection, which shall take 
place, when the trumpet shall sound and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

Were it not for those changes, through which we 
have already passed, our present state of perfection 



1^8 iDENTIfY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VJ 

could never have been attained ; and but for those 
changes which death shall occasion in our bodies, 
the more exalted perfections of an immortal condi- 
tion must be forever placed beyond our reach. 

The embryo faculties and powers, which were in- 
corporated with our essence, from the formation of 
the ancestors of human nature, and which have lain 
dormant from Adam downward to the present hour ; 
have probably occupied a soil, which has been con- 
dusive to their preservation, but uncongenial to their 
growth. The progress of time may have matured 
those original powers which we now possess in all 
their plenitude ; and having accomplished its office, 
by rendering them subservient to the purposes of 
the present life, at the hour of death it may recal its 
operative influence, and consign over the body to 
the repose of the grave, in which state these embryo 
faculties may begin to emerge from an apparently 
torpid condition, and to put forth those active ener- 
gies, which animal life was unable to produce. 

Nor can these conjectural probabilities, how 
strange soever they may seem, appear repugnant to 
reason. The embryo state, through which we have 
already passed, in the early stages of our imperfect 
being, has given place to animal life, without which 
our animal functions could not have been perform- 
ed ; while mere animal life, in its turn, has prepared 
the way for the more exalted refinements of rational 
existence. And, when stages of our being shall 
have accomplished the designs of God ; these fac- 
ulties in like mann^^r, we may reasonably conclude, 
will partially subside in the great recess of nature; 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 189 

and give through the repose of the grave, to other 
faculties, an opportunity to advance also towards 
completion. Then, when that body which shall be 
hereafter exalted to a state of pe feet maturity, shall 
have its faculties and powers full blown ; the two 
distinct substances which constitute the essence of 
man, shall be united together, and go forth in an 
eternal world to remain in life for ever. 

From these considerations, therefore, the conclu- 
sions appear more than probable, that all those ob- 
jections which may be raised against the resurrect 
tion of the body, will in almost all instances, apply 
with equal, and sometimes with superior force 
against the process of vegetation. And from a prin- 
ciple of strict analogy, if this be permitted to become 
our guide, it will follow also, that the instant death 
shall close our eyes in darkness, and render our 
limbs stiff and motionless, the grand process of our 
future bodies shall commence, when they shall enter 
upon those changes which are necessary to mature 
them fpr the grand result of things, 

SECTION III. 

That the analogy^ ^betzveen Vegetation and the Be- 
surrection of the Bodyy is not destroyed by the 
Inequalities of Time, during which the bodies of 
different Men repose in the grave. 

In tracing the analogy between the process of ve- 
getation and that of the resurrection, it is necessary 
that both subjects be placed precisely in their res- 



190 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

pective situations ; since without this it will be im- 
possible to investigate with accuracy, to compare 
with justice, or to decide with precision. 

Tile process of vegetation appears before us in 
all its parts ; and we trace the connections and de- 
pendencies of its diiFerent stages, from its com- 
mencement to its consummation ; and erroneously 
transfer the rapidity of these movemeiits to the pro. 
cess ot the resurrection, though we can behold only 
its shortest stage through the whole progress of 
human life. Such circumstances conduct us to 
error, and the analogy appears inapplicable, because 
the comparison has been unfairly made. But, when 
we divest ourselves of these contracted views, and 
extend our observations to the vast extremes of hu- 
man existence, including within this view all those 
varied stages which have already taken place, and 
which shall take place hereafter, from the primary 
formation of man, to the sound of the trumpet which 
shall awaken the dead ; the whole scene undergoes 
a change, and the horizon of human existence opens 
to our view. 

Objections, indeed, from partial views, may oc- 
casionally be started; and by our blending together 
erroneous circumstances, seeming incongruities may 
appear. But, when these erroneous circumstances 
and comparisons shall be removed, the incongrui- 
ties which resulted from them must disappear ; and 
the analogy bevveen the resurrection, and that pro- 
cess of vegetation by which an inspired writer has 
chosen to illustrate it, will stand forth in all its 
beauty. 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 191 

Among those seeming incongruities, to which 
such improper views may have given birth, the foU 
lowing objection claims a most distinguished rank. 
It has been said, '' that the periods of our repose in 
the grave, are so unequal with respect to different 
bodies of the same species, that no resemblance 
can be traced between this disproportion and the 
process of vegetation." And, in addition to the 
above it may be observed, *' that no just reason can 
be assigned why so many ages should elapse, to 
ripen the bodies of the antediluvians, while some of 
the future generations of the world shall be matured 
in an inconceivably shorter time." 

To these objections, could no other reason be as- 
signed, it might be sufficient with respect to the 
human body to reply, that the comparison on which 
they are founded is so partial and circumscribed, 
that it includes but a small portion of human exist- 
ence, considered in all its stages of graduated being. 
In vegetation we have seen the grain deposited in 
the earth, and we have seen succeeding harvests ; 
but in relation to the human body, we have only 
seen the grain committed to the soil, but we have 
not yet waited a sufficiency of time to experience a 
periodical return. We are continually moving on- 
ward, and through new scenes and changes which 
were never before experienced by us ; we are urg- 
ing our way in the midst of shadows to some dis- 
tant gaol ; and evidently preparing for some event 
which lies before us in an eternal world. The great 
movements in our different stages of existence, have 
not yet performed their respective revolutions ^ 



192 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

We therefore cannot comprehend with precision the 
diiFtrent events which await us, until the present 
universe shall be swept aside. 

In the present progress of nature, the alternate 
succession of day and night follows in regular vicis- 
situdes ; yet we well know that a much slwver and 
more important movement is equally discernible in 
all her works ; and these movements may be traced 
both in the relative and in tlie abstract nature of 
man. We well know that the fluctuating baubles 
of human life, can bear no more proportion to the 
great drama of human nature, considered under all 
its changes and revolutions, than the diurnal motion 
of the earth or the periodical changes of the moon, 
can to the revolutions of Saturn or of Herschel, 
Even the solar system, with all its appendages of 
planetary worlds, may perhaps have some secret 
and stated movements, in relation to other systems ; 
of which at present we can no more form any ade- 
quate conception, than we can of the manner of the 
production of a grain of corn, a blade of grass, or 
the resurrection of the body from the grave. 

Of this, however, we are fully assured, that the 
same almighty power, which bounds, and fills and 
encircles all created nature, is equal to every thing 
which is within the reach of possibility. And, while 
those facts which it has already accomplished, stand 
forth as sensible proofs to corroborate the certainty 
of those things which God has presented to our be- 
lief, they challenge our assent even in those cases 
where we can trace neither analogy nor relation. 
Such is the case, where revelation stands abstrac- 



Sect. 111.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 193 

tedly from all corresponding facts. But v/hen, as 
In the case befcre us, we trace the perfect analogy 
which subsists betv/een these facts which have been 
already accomplibhed, and those which we expect 
to take place hereafter ; m hen to this we add, that 
the greatest difHculties lie on the side of those events 
which have already taken place; the evidence forces 
itself upon us with an energy that prejudice only 
can resist. 

To ripen the latent pov/ers and faculties of our 
future bodies, that virtual existence in our progeni-^ 
tors, v/hich we have already experienced ; may be 
as necessary as our rep ise in the grave. And the 
length of that period ^ v/IJich tl-^pses in the Jbrmer 
state, may render it necessary that the latter should 
be of shorter duration ; so that instead of affording 
any just ground for objection^ it becomes an instance 
in which we join necessity to fact. Thus then, the - 
longer the virtual properties of the human body 
exist in a seminal state, the shorter must be the 
period of duration necessary to ripen them, either in 
an embryo condition in the present life^ or in the 
grave ; and to prepare them through the stages of 
various being, to constitute that body which shall' be 
raised in immortal vigour to be dissolved no more. 

The immediate descendants of Adam could have 
slumbered but a short period in a seminal state ; 
and, consequently, the period of their repose in the 
grave must be more considerable than that of the 
next generation. The inhabitants cf the Patrkr- 

c c 



194 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

chal ages approach towards a nearer proportion, 
between a seminal state of repose in the grave. 
While those who lived at the commencement of the 
Christian aera, may approach nearly to a middle 
state; and life may divide with them the whole of 
their varied existence, from the creation of Adam 
to the soi^nd of the trumpet which shall call the 
dead to life ; and leave an equal proportion, for a 
seminal state, prior to actual life, and an after statp, 
during which the embryo of our future bodies shall 
ripen in the grave. Those on the contrary who 
have lived, and shall be in the subsequent ages of 
the world, having slumbered through all the preced- 
ing ages in a seminal state, will require but a shortr 
er period of repose in the regions of corruption ; 
while the last survivors of the human race, having 
passed through all the progenitors of mankind, shall 
be changed m a moment, in the twinkling of (in eye^ 
and start forth into another mode of being, equally 
prepared for a more exalted region, with the bodies 
oi Adam, SetJi, or Noah. 

Under these circumstarces, which must be ad- 
inittcd to be hypothetically probable ; the grand 
schemes of Providence will go on, without dispro- 
portion or incongruity. For, if to slumber in our 
progenitors, and to repose in the grave, be alike 
conducive to the perfection of that body which God 
shall give us hereafter; if both states be alike ne- 
cessary to ripen our latent faculties, the progress 
of which is only interrupted by the short interval of 
pur present life ; we shall find upon a fair calcula«i 



Sefct. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 195 

tion, that all the individuals of the human race, of 
every age of the world, have had an equal share of 
duration in one or other of these modes of being, to 
ripen and prepare their future bodies for a more ex- 
alted condition of existence. 

Hence then it follows, that the differences which 
subsist between the ages of the world, in which dif- 
ferent individuals have lived can have no influence 
upon the general theory ; nor can these circum- 
stances affect the analogy which subsists between 
the process of vegetation and that of the resurrec- 
tion, any more than the quickness of vegetation in 
one species, can destroy the analogy between it and 
another, which moves more tardily ; or, than the 
mountains and vallies which are scattered over the 
surface of the earth, can aflfect the rotundity of the 
globe. And, therefore, as no argument can be 
drawn from the inequalities of those periods, through 
which our bodies exist in all their modes, those 
which are drawn from partial and contracted views 
of the subject before us, must disappear, when 
we view the resurrection on an enlarged and more 
extensive scale. 

The possibility, the probability^ and the moral 
certainty which will appear hereafter in favour of 
the resurrection, when we come to consider these 
sources of argument which we have already ex- 
plored; must far outweigh all the objections which 
can be brought against the analogy and the fact. 
The powerful intimations of nature must soften the 



fS^6 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Cht»p. V, 

asperity of presumption, and urge us to adroit Xht 
certainty of a doctrine, which is so clearly revealed 
in the written word of Gode 

It may, perhaps^ be further objected against the 
analogy for which I contend, " that in the vegeta- 
tion of a grain of ^\ heat, its g;errrdnating poT/crs be- 
p-in to operate before any of its component pnrti 
are dissolved ; but that in the case of the buirian 
body, dissolution visibly takes place, and Its com- 
ponent parts are completely separated, without af- 
fording us any discovery of returning lifco'^ It is 
certain that the objection before us assumes more 
than ought, on the present occasion to be granted. 
For, whether in the case of grain the germinating 
powers begin to operate before the component parts 
are partially dissolved : or v^'hether the dissolution 
of those parts precede the active energy of the rer- 
minating power ; the objection cannot disannul 
the analogy between the process of vegetation and 
that of the resurrection of the body from the grave. 
The movements, which take place in the body, sre 
too slow for our perception : and as this circurn.- 
stance prevents our knowing whether dissolution 
precedes the active energy of any latent powers, 
or ib subsequent to it ; that knowledge which is ne- 
cessary to give w eight to the objection never can 
be obtained ; and consequently, th^ objection must 
be deprived of that foundation on which iit is pre^ 
sumed to rest. It seems, however, Inghly probable 
that dissolution must piecede the acii.c energy of 
all vegetative powers in tlic case of grain. 



Ssct. III.j OF THE HUMAN BODY. l^ 

If vegetation can commence, without any degree 
cf dissolution or decay in the parent grain, no rea- 
son can be adduced from the nature of things^ why 
dissolution should be necessary for its support in 
any subsequent period* For, if the process of veg-^ 
ctation can commence without any dissolution, it 
inay proceed, and if it proceed it may continue, and 
if it continue it may be completed? without requir- 
ing, in any stage of its progress, the dissolution of 
that grain from whence it springs. 

If dissolution be necessary in any stage, it must 
be necessary in every stage ; because no reason can 
b" assigned why it should be more necessary in one 
stage and not necessary in all. And, if in every 
stag3 of the process of vegetation, the dissolution of 
the pcTent grain be necessary to the active energy 
of the future germ ; it clearly follows, that the activ- 
ity of this germinating power, must be dependent 
upon that dissolution which preceded it, and, there- 
forC;, that dlssclution on \vhich the active powers of 
vegetstion arc dependent^ must necessarily claim ^ 
priority of existence to those powers which are de- 
pendent on it. 

If the germ which vegetates, springs from the 
parent grain, which no one v/ill deny j then the 
germ itself must either form a part of the identity cf 
that parent grain, or it must be extraneous to it. 
In the former case, dissolution must be necessary 
to vegetation ; and in the latter, the parent r rain 
and the future germ can have no kind of natural 
ccnncction with each other. To admit the latter 
casc; is to admit that a parcynt grain includes with- 



198 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

in its nature a future germ, and does not include 
it at the same time, which is a plain contradiction ; 
and to admit the former, is to acknowledge the pre- 
vious existence of dissolution, which totally de- 
stroys the ground on which the objection was rais- 
ed. As, therefore, that germ which shall hereafter 
vegetate, must be now included in those compo- 
nent parts from whence the identity of the parent 
grain is denominated ; it plainly follows, that this 
germ must form a part of its numerical identity, and 
consequently, that a partial dissolution must neces- 
sarily take place to produce that change which veg- 
etation implies. 

In the order of time, vegetation may indeed suc- 
ceed so qlosely to the partial decay of the parent 
grain that no interval may be discerned ; but in 
the order of nature, dissolution must precede that 
which results from it, and leave a certain interval 
of duration, though it may be too minute for our 
faculties to discover. And if dissolution in the or- 
der of nature, precede the active energy of vegeta- 
tion in a grain of wheat, or any other grain ; no ar- 
gument can possibly be drawn from the dissolution 
of its component parts, to support that objection 
which would destroy the analogy between the pro- 
cess of vegetation and the resurrection of our bodies 
from the grave. 

The observations which have been thus applied 
to vegetation, may be easily transferred to the ma- 
terial part of man ; in both cases dissolution must 
evidently precede vegetation ; and the analogy 
holds good, how much soever they may vary from 



Sect. HI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 199 

each other in the rapidity of tbeir movements, and 
the degrees of their dissolution. 

The differences in these two cases before us, in 
tlie degrees of their dissolution, during the same 
given periods of duration, may produce in our minds 
a distinct association of ideas ; but this cannot alter 
either the things themselves which we thus contem- 
plate, or the power of God. For, although, in the 
case of vegetation, we behold an efficacy of power, 
which in that of the human body we are unable to 
discern ; yet the same or similar movements may 
take place, though by more imperceptible grada- 
tions. This much, however, is certain, that in those 
branches of comparison which we now contemplate, 
no case can be adduced, which will destroy the 
analogy ; while those objections which are advanced 
against the resurrection cf the body will all fall with 
superior weight Opon the production of grain. And 
since in the production of grain all objections against 
it in all possible forms are refuted by fact, it is but 
rational to conclude that the same objections which 
are brought against the resurrection, are capable of 
being refuted in a similar manner ; since in both 
cases the circumstances are either equal, or in favour 
of the resurrection of the dead. The final result 
must therefore be, that the manner in which disso- 
lution takes place, can never be made a ground- 
work for destroying that analogy which subsists 
between the case which we have compared ; nor can 
it afford one just objection against the resurrection 
pf the body from the grave. 

That God can call into existence a numerous 



2£j* IDENTITY AND RESU RRECTION [Chap. V. 

race of creatures endowed with all the forms of ani° 
mal lifcj and with different degrees of intellectual 
powers in endless variety; and that he can preserve 
the various forms of being given, will neither admit 
of doubt nor dispute ; the theory itself being demon- 
strated by actual fact. That these beings must 
have had a beginning we are well assured, because 
nothing can be eternal but Gorl ; and cortsecuently 
there must have been a period when even creation 
could have had no existence. In that distant a5ra, 
creation must be presumed to be as remote from all 
experimental knowledge, as the resurrection of the 
body is now. If then we carry back our views to 
this irr.portant period, which I have supposed, and 
turn our tho -ights to the creation of the world with 
all its inhabitants and appendages : and then turn to 
the ground on which w'e now stand, and contem- 
plate the resurrection of the dead ; the probability 
in favour of the latter, exceeds that of the former 
in a much greater proportion than the light of the 
sun exceeds that of the lunsr sphere. And more 
srruments can be ad-^^an-^ed to prove r.reation impos- 
sible, than can now be adva'xcd to p'rove the resur- 
rection improbabhj amidst all the objections thst 
can be raised against it. 

And, even under present circumstances, with cre- 
ation actually existing befor^. us, and with the resur» 
rection of the body, considered only as a hypotheti- 
cal possibility, the difficulties on the side of the latter 
are not greater than on that of the former. And we 
are at as great a loss to account how the heavens 
and earth rose out of chaos, though their certainty 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 20J 

is now demonstrated by fact ; as we are to account 
for the resurrection of the body through all the 
various and astonishing changes which it must here- 
sifter undergo. 

And even, without having any reference to crea- 
tion in the abstract, if we only recur again to the 
process of vegetation, which is annually exhibi ed 
to our astonished view^s, in all the regular and ir- 
regular stages of advancement ; with all the expe- 
rience of five thousand years ; with all the end- 
less varieties of natural productions, imported from 
every climate and every zone ; with all the resear- 
ches of philosophy ; together with all the boasted 
discoveries of the world, the wisest man alive can no 
more ultimately account for the most simple pro- 
duction of nature, than he can for the resurrection 
of our bodies, or the spirituality of them, when they 
shall be clothed with immortality and swallowed 
up in life. 

1 he doctrine of the resurrection, amidst all those 
difficulties with which it is encircled, comes forth in 
an apparently spontaneous manner to gratify univer- 
sal desire and hope. That God would protract our 
existence^ and protect us from sickness, calamities, 
and pains, is a desire which seems to have been in- 
terwoven with our constitutions in our primary for- 
mation ; ^nd is one of those motives of the human 
bosom which appears to have survived the fall. 
But, it is a desire which nothing but death, and a 
resurrection from his cold embrace, seem able to 
accomplish. There is nothing but this which cao 

translate us into a peace^l region, where human 

Dd 



^'03 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

nature shall meet a perfect renovation in all its or. 
ganical and intdlectual powers ; a region into which 
the body shall carry its final modification, and pre- 
serve all those essential parts, which will be neces- 
sary to its future station ; a region, where sickness, 
pains and calamities, shall be known no more. 

Whether perpetuity were added to the being of 
man in this life, or another is not for man to decide. 
God has placed our permanent state of existence 
beyond the grave, and has made the gloomy terri- 
tory of death the passage through which we must 
travel in order to attain it. The dissolution of our 
bodies is a necessary consequence of death ; and 
both become morally necessary from the debilitated 
state of the human frame. In addition to these cir- 
eumstances, when we consider the present life as a 
state of probation, in which we act as candidates for 
one of retribution ; the dissolution of the body be- 
comes a necessary part of those changes, which 
must fit and prepare us for that state of being, 
where changes and probation must be alike un* 
known. 

Were it not for dissolution, no alteration could 
probably take place in our condition ; and then, in- 
firmity and pain, and discord, must accompany 
us through every stage of our existence; even if 
immortality were here communicated to man. 
But, when we behold death, and its attendant dis- 
solution, interposing themselves between this world 
and the next ; we see a final period put to our 
(emaciated frames, and we behold a scene unfold- 
mg itself, in which our bodies shall appear refing^* 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY, .^tlS 

ennobled, and exalted ; and in which they shall be 
brought forth to inhabit a region, where all that 
survives of human nature shall exist in a more ex- 
alted mode, shall exhibit a state of consummate 
perfection, " safe from disease and decline." 



SECTION IV. 

Arguments to prove that the Resurrection of the 
body can no more take place immediately^ than 
Seed-time and Harvest can be blended together. 

It has been repeatedly asserted, in the course of 
this work, that death is a natural effect of moral 
evil; and I flatter myself that these assertions have 
been satisfactorily proved, in several of the preced- 
ing sections. But, while the arguments which 
have been advanced to prove that moral evil must 
be destroyed, appear highly favourable to the resur« 
rection of the body ; they seem to open the door to 
an objection which may be stated thus. " If death 
be a natural effect of moral evil, if no natural effect 
can survive its cause, and moral evil be totally des- 
troyed, the consequence must be an immediate 
resurrection of the body from the grave." 

Specious as this objection may appear, it is one 
which 1 flatter myself will admit of a solution ; it is 
one, indeed, which has been already anticipated, 
and in part already answered. For, though it has 
been asserted, that no natural effect can survive its 
cause; — that moral evil is the cause of death;— ^ 



104 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. >^ 

and that moral evil must be done away ; yet there 
are two lights in which the destruction of moral evil 
may be considered. 

In the first place, it may be said to be destroyed 
in relation to individuals, the instant that death 
takes place upon them, and separates their souls 
from their bodies. For, as probation must be 
confined to the present state, and as those laws by 
which we distinguish good from evil, must be con- 
fined to that mode of being in which we are capable 
of obedience and transgression ; a removal from 
this state of existence must effectually change our 
condition, and resolve all into retributive certainty 
either of punishment or reward. Whenever, there- 
fore, this change in our condition shall take place, 
in an individual sense ; moral evil may be said to 
be destroyed. 

Nevertheless, in a more universal sense, moral 
evil may be said to continue, so long as the present 
state of things shall remain unchanged. And, con- 
sequently, though it may no longer operate upon 
those individuals, whose bodies are lodged in the 
arms of death ; vet the influence of moral evil must 
run parallel with mortality, and occasion that death 
which mankind must undergo. In this view, moral 
evil cannot be universally destroyed, while one 
mortal remains alive j and therefore die resurrec- 
tion of the body cannot immediately take place. 

But, even admitting the destruction of moral evil 
to take place, as in the first case supposed; it will 
not from thence follow diat the resurrection must be 
an immediate event. St. Paul has told us, in reki- 



Sect IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 205 

tion to the process of vegetation, that the body 
which is sozvn, is not quickened (into future life) eX' 
cept it die ; time therefore must evidently be neces- 
sary to the developement of the future plant, the 
future ear, and the future grain, vi^hich come forth 
in perfection when the future harvest shall com- 
mence. Since, therefore, progression becomes ne» 
cessary to future completion, seed-time must neces- 
sarily precede those stages which are conducive to 
approaching perfection ; and to suppose that har- 
vest could hlf^nd with that condition which must 
necessarily be previous to it, is to make a supposi- 
tion which is not only contradicted by fact, but 
which also involves a contradiction. 

Neither will the case appear less improbable, or 
less absurd, if we make an application of these re- 
marks to the resurrection of the bodies of the dead. 
Those portions of permanent matter in which I have 
presumed the identity of the body to consist, I have 
supposed also to be the germ of future life, which 
must necessarily, like the seed of some future grain, 
be in an embryo state, and consequently unprepared 
for its future habitation. Under these circumstan- 
ces, the progress of time becomes necessary to call 
forth those latent powers which shall unfold them- 
selves in our future bodies, so that they may be 
adapted to that condition of being which they must 
sustain for ever. 

From the principles upon which I have proceeded 
it must be admitted, that this embryo state of our 
future bodies, may be in different stages of pro- 
gression when deposited in the earth ; and the spe- 



^06 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

cific quantity of time necessary to ripen those bod- 
ies which shall be, for that state of perfection to 
which they tend, must be determined by those pre- 
vious periods, in which their constituent parts wercs 
lodged in a seminal state. And how various or 
multiform soever these stages might have been, 
they are evidently such as will suit the whole sue- 
cession of time, and place the bodies of all the hu- 
man race on an even scale. On this ground we 
can rationally conceive, how the general resurrec- 
tion may take place in one and the same instant ; 
though the bodies which shall rise had been depos- 
ited in the grave through all the preceding ages of 
the world. 

The introduction of moral evil into the world I 
have already admitted to be the case of death, and 
the prima y cause of that dissolution which im- 
mediately succeeds. But as, when death takes 
place, and by separating soul and body, destroys 
the identity of man, moral evil must cease to act 
upon that individual ; the latent powers must begin 
to operate, and move onward towards that perfec- 
tion which the future body shall possess and enjoy 
through eternity. 

But, as those parts of immoveable matter which 
constitute the identity of the body here, and shall 
be the germ of that which shall exist hereafter, 
must have been deposited in the grave in distant 
periods ; so they must have been deposited in dif- 
ferent stages of progression ; and, consequently, 
must require different portions of duration in the 
grave, to ripen for the gr^nd result of things. And, 



Sect. IV.] or THE HUMAN BODY- 20/ 

as those bodies which were first deposited in the 
grave must require the longest time because they 
existed the shortest in a seminal state ; so those 
which have been interred more recently, having been 
lodged a much longer period in their scmind state, 
will require a comparatively shorter season to bring 
them forth into a state of complete perfection. And, 
as that germ which shall constitute our future bod- 
ies must be in a state of immaturity, whensoever 
deposited in the grave ; those ages become requi* 
site to ripen it, which shall elapse from the time of 
its interment, until the sound of the trumpet shall 
awaken the dead. And, therefore, though moral 
evil be the cause of death, and though it cease 
when soul and body are separated from each other, 
it will be impossible that the body should immedi- 
ately rise from the grave. 

Nothing that is in embryo can be in a state of 
maturity. Maturity, therefore must be the work 
of progression ; and progression in such cases, must 
be incompatible with instantaneous action. The 
germ in embryo cannot be matured, while it is in 
embryo, and while it is a germ ; if it were so, it 
would no longer be a germ in embryo, but a germ 
in maturity, which in this view is a contradiction 
in terms. An embryo, it is true, may be perfect, 
as an embryo ; but while it is an embryo, it must 
be distinct from that body which it shall hereafter 
constitute. • And to suppose that which is an embryo 
of a future body, to be that future body in comple- 
tion, is to suppose it to be what it is not, and what, 



205 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

under existing circumstances it cannot be : in short, 
it is to suppose it to be an embryo and not an em- 
bryo at the same time. It must therefore follow, 
that the permanent prmciples of our bodies cannot 
be immediately raised; though the cause of their 
being deposited in the grave be totally done away. 

The germinating powers of its radical parts, may 
begin immediately to operate, because delivered 
from the primary cause which held them in a state 
of torpor and inaction ; but these radical parts can- 
not ripen into full perfection, until the time ap- 
pointed when the sea and the grave shall give up 
their dead. Those portions of matter which con- 
stitute the identity oi our bodies in the present life, 
and which will become the foundation of those 
which we shall possess furever, must, when depos- 
ited in the grave, be destitute of that maturity 
which can alone ensure immortality. And this 
maturity cannot be attained, unless those bodies 
undergo those changes in the graA^e, through which 
the judge of quick and dead hath appointed them 
to pass. But when the bodies of the whgle of 
Adam's pos.erity shall have moved through those 
evolutions which arc necessary to ensure their im- 
mortality ; and shall have U'.dergone those varied 
modes of being, which form so many links in the 
vast chain which ends in perfect existence ; then all 
ripened vvirh immortal energy, for an immortal 
state, shall codie forth from the mansions of death, 
to sleep no more. And in this state, being re- 
united to their immaterial parmers, they shall 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 209 

enter upon those rewards or punishments which 
flow from the mercy and retributive justice of God. 



SECTION V. 

/« ivhich it is proved^ That St, Paul, zvhen illustrat- 
ing the Doctrine of the Resurrection, bi^ the Pro- 
cess of Vegetation, speaks the Language of Phi- 
losophy and Reason. 

To illustrate the doctrine of the resurrection, by 
the analogy which subsists between it, and the pro- 
cess of vegetation, St. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 35.) has 
stated this question — But some man ivill say. How 
are the dead raised up, and zvith zvhat bodies do 
they come P and in the following verses he has giv- 
en this answer — Thou fool, that zvhich thou sowest 
is not quickefied except it die ; and that zvhich thou 
sowest, thou sozvest not the body zvhich shall be, but 
hare grain ; it may chance oj zvheat, or of some 
other grain. 

However excellent this illustrative argument may 
appear, in the eye of unprejudiced reason, it is one 
of those excellencies which has met the common 
fate of almost every thing which is truly great ; and 
has been exposed to censures of the most illiberal 
and acrimonious nature. 

Thomas Payne, in his *' Age of Heason," has 
taken occasion to hold it up to ridicule and con- 
tempt, and without entering into the nature of the 

£ e 



210 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

comparison which the Apostle has made, or esti- 
mating the merit or demerit of the argument, which 
has been draw^n from the general analogy subsist- 
ing between the two subjects, he has not hesitated 
to denominate St. Paul " a fool.'''* Perhaps, when 
Thomas Payne dropped this expression from his 
pen, it was with him an age of dogmatis?n, as well 
as an age of reason ; so that in this, as well as in 
a variety of other instances, he has strangely per- 
mitted his prejudice to eclipse the intellectual ray. 

** Sometimes (observes Payne) Paul affects to be 
a naturalist, and to prove his system of resurrec- 
tion from the principles of vegetation. Thou fool, 
says he, that which thou sowest, is not quickened 
except it die. To which one might reply in his 
own language, and say, thou fool Paul, that which 
thou sowest is not quickened except it die not j for 
the grain that dies in the ground, never does nor 
can vegetate^"^ On this point St. Paul and Tho- 
mas Payne are fairly at issue, and the question is 
which of them is right. 

It appears evidently from the face of the above 
quotation, that the Apostle's meaning has been 
either grossly mistaken, or wilfully misrepresented ; 
because nothing can be more evident than this, that 
his language has been perverted to serve no good 
purpose. In the passage which has been quoted 
from his page, the Apostle was not speaking of the 
annihilation of any simple substance, but of the 

* Age of Reason, part the second, p. 73, 



Sect. V.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 2 1 1 

decomposition of compounded bodies ; which two 
subjects have little or no connection with one ano- 
ther. The former must be for ever hindered from 
taking place by the simple preservation of being ; 
but the latter can only be prevented by the perma- 
nency of the union, and adhesion of all the parts, 
of which that substance was composed. That the 
former shall take place, St. Paul never asserts ; but 
that the latter annually occurs, is evident to every 
beholder ; and by this obvious fact St. Paul has 
chosen to illustrate the state of the human bodv, 
during its repose in the grave, and its consequent 
resurrection. 

The question, which is now before us, involves 
two distinct points ; one of which relates to the 
identity of the substance itself, and the other to the 
identity of that modification, which the given sub- 
stance might have assumed. The identity of the 
former never can be lost; because, though it may 
be perpetually divided, no one of its essential pro- 
perties can possibly be either destroyed or changed. 
All that divisibility can possibly effect must relate 
to the arrangement of its parts ; but no change in 
modification can ever effect identity. On the con- 
trary, in all compounded bodies, every change which 
they undergo must affect their modification ; and 
by a derangement of the composition, must eventu- 
ally annihilate that identit}', which consisted in the 
permanent union of all the parts. 

In the subject, which is now before us, the above 
two identities are to be found ; and to the distinction 
which exists between them, if we wish to compre- 



212 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

hend the Apostle's meaning, it is necessary that 
we attend. It is this distinction which Thomas 
Payne seems entirely to have forgotten ; and by 
this means he has so blended these two identities 
together, as to have justly brought upon himself 
the charge of that folly which he, with equal injus- 
tice and indecency, has attributed to St. Paul. 

When we take before us a grain, on which the 
Apostle has made his observation, we are instantly 
struck with the distinction I have made. We behold 
in almost one view, the identity of the substance 
itself, and the identity of that particular modifica- 
tion of it, from whence we obtain the idea of grain. 
The former of these must always be inseparable 
from matter, in what light soever we may view it ; 
while the latter as it applies not so much to exist- 
ence itself, as to the particular manner of existence, 
may be totally destroyed, though the former remains 
unchanged and entire. Thus the identity of the grain 
is one thing, but the identity of the matter of which 
it is composed is quite another ; and of these two 
identities it is necessary that we should have distinct 
ideas, in order that we inform ourselves of which 
of these St. Paul speaks, before we can decide on 
the accuracy or inaccuracy of his expression. 

That the Apostle speaks of the identity of the 
modification, and not of ihat of the matter itself, is 
evident from the manner in which he introduces the 
subject. " That (says he) ivJiich thou soicestis not 
gidckcned except it die. ' ' 

What (we would ask) is it that is sown? The 
answer is obvious, *' a grain.^^ What, (we ask 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 2 IS 

again) is not quickened? The answer is equally 
jplain, " Vegetation which arises from that germ 
which is included in the composition sown, is not 
quickened into future life, except that body in 
which it is included, die : which body, in order that 
the germ may evolve itself, must be decomposed, 
and through this decomposition, its identity, which 
consisted in the stability of its modification, must 
be inevitably destroyed." 

That St. Paul spoke of the grain which was sown, 
and not of the particles of which it was composed, 
is plain language which will admit of no controversy. 
If we deny this, it will be impossible to render his 
expressions any way intelligible ; wc must there- 
fore assume it as an admitted point. It must, there- 
fore, be to the modification, and not the constituent 
parts of grain, that we must look for that di/ing, of 
which the Apostle speaks. 

A grain of corn is that certain combination of 
primitive particles, so peculiarly modified as to give 
us that complex idea which we have of it ; which 
complex idea is derived from that peculiar union 
which exists in the body modified. And no longer 
than that union continues can we annex to it an 
idea which is dependent upon it ; and which must 
cease to exist upon the disunion of those parts 
which were previously combined. 

Having thus before us this complex idea of a 
grain, arising from the mere combination of its 
parts, it is certain that this idea can continue no 
longer, than while those parts continue in union 



214 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

with one another ; because upon this union the idea 
is entirely d pendent for its own existence. While 
therefore, the parts thus combined, continue in 
union with one another ; our idea of grain remains 
undestroyed ; while a change in its modification and 
sensible qualities must annihilate the identity of 
which we speak, and our complex idea together. 

Such then is the nature of the grain, to which 
St. Paul applies, for an illustration, which he has 
so happily employed in proving the resurrection 
of the dead. 

Let us now suppose this grain to be deposited in 
the earth, and, through the grand process of nature, 
its parts dissolving into their elementary state. In 
this case, though the parts themselves lose not their 
own peculiar identities ; yet they so far lose their 
original state of combination, that the grain is now 
no longer in existence. And, as our idea of the 
identity of this grain depended upon that combina- 
tion of the parts which is now destroyed, so when 
this combination vanished, from that very instant 
our idea of it ceased to exist. 

That the grain itself must be dissolved, will ad- 
mit of no dispute ; and no man perhaps will assert 
that its identity can continue, when the only combi- 
nation of particles upon which it depended is des- 
troyed. For certain it is, that when that cause 
which gave being to our idea of identity is removed, 
that idea must vanish with it; because being was 
necessary to its preservation. If then the identity 
of a grain be actually destroyed, must not that 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 515 

identical grain be inevitably dead ? And is not this 
very grain, that of which St. Paul speaks, in the 
very passage which has been ridiculed by Thomas 
Payne-? And if so, the sentiment of tiie Apostle 
is at once philosophical and just ; and the contempt 
of Thomas Payne has been most egregiously mis- 
applied. 

St. Paul, in the place under consideration, con- 
fines his observations exclusively to the grain, with- 
out once adverting to the matter of which it is 
composed ; and he considers the dissolution of its 
component parts, as particularly necessary to that 
vegetation which shall spring forth from the germ 
included in it. In this view, he justly concludes 
from the change of its modification, the destruction 
of its identity ; and from hence expresses himself 
with an evidence not to be controverted with suc- 
cess, that every compounded body must be dead 
when its identity is no more. And consequently, 
that the self- same act, by which its parts are sepa- 
rated from one another, is the identical act through 
which its modification, which constituted its iden- 
tity, is destroyed, and through which the grain that 
was sown completely dies. 

How far the destruction of the constituent parts 
of a grain may be necessary to call forth the active 
energy of those vegeeative powers, that are lodged 
in the germ of future life, which the parent body 
encloses, is remote from the present question. It is 
sufficient to my present purpose, to have vindicated 
St. Paul from the charge of absurdity, and the ap- 



216 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. V. 

pellation of "fool;" and to have shewn the philo- 
sophical propriety of an expression, which Thomas 
Payne, instead of confronting with argument, has 
attempted to ridicule, and affected to despise.* 

* It ought not to be admitted, that the subject of vegetation 
which St. Paul has so happily applied to the resurrection of the 
body, was first hinted by our Lord on a similar occasion. 
Hence he tells us, John xii. 24, Verilijsverihj^ I say unto yoUf 
Exceiit a corn of ivheat fall into the ground and die^ it abidetk 
alone ; but if it die^ it bringeth forth much fruit. Thus we find, 
in corroboration of the same sentiment, that even a greater than 
St, Paul is here.f 

t After perusing this section, my friend, Dr. A. Clarke, sent 
me the following illustration of John xii. 24, which applies so 
forcibly to the subject of this inquiry that 1 make no apology 
for inserting it, as I am sure it will recommend itself to the 
good sense and piety of every reader, 

" It appears quite evident to me that St. Paul borrowed his 
simile and illustration of the resurrection of the human body 
from the words of our Lord, John xii. 24. This simile pro- 
perly understood, is in both cases so physically and philosophi- 
cally correct as to carry conviction to the most insensible mind. 
I shall give you a paraphrase which I extract from my MS. 
notes on the above passage. 

Unless the grain of wheat which falleth into the ground die, 
it remaineth alofie, verse 24. 

" Our Lord compares himself to di grain of wheat., his death to 
a grain sown and decomposed in the ground j his resurrection 
lo the blade which springs from the dead grain, and which 
brings forth an abundance of fruit. As if he had said, I must die 
to be glorJfiedy and unless lam glorified I cannot establish a glorious 
church of Jews and Gentiles upon earth. In comparing him- 
self thus to a grain of wheat., our Lord shews us, 1. The cause 
of his death : the order of God, who had rated the redemption 
of the world at this price : as in nature he had attached the 
multiplication of the corn lo the death of the grain. 2. The end 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 2 IT 

of his death ; the redemption of a lost world ; the justification, 
sanctification, and glorification of men ; as the multiplication 
of the corn is the end for which the grain dies. 3. The mys- 
tery of his death, which we must credit without being able fully 
to comprehend ; as we believe the dead grain multiplies itself, 
and we are nourished by that multiplication, without being able 
to comprehend how it is done. The greatest philosopher that 
ever existed could not tell how one grain became 30, 60, 100, 
or a thousand; how i\,vegetatedin the earth ; how earth, air and 
water, its component parts, could assume such a form and con^ 
sistence, emit such odours, or produce such tastes. Nor can 
the wisest man on earth tell how the bodies of animals are 
nourished by this produce of the ground ; how wheat for in- 
stance, is assimilated to the very nature of the bodies that re- 
ceive it ; and how it becomes flesh and blood, nerves, sinews^ 
bones, Sec. All we can say is, the thing is so ; and it has 
pleased God that it should be so, and not otherwise. So there 
are many things in the person, death, and sacrifice of Christ, 
which we can neither explain nor comprehend ; all we should 
say here is, it is by this means that the world was redeemed, 
through this sacrifice men are saved ; it has pleased God that 
it should be so, and not otherwise. Some say, our Lord spoke 
this according to the philosophy of those days, which was by no 
ineaps correct. But I would ask, has ever a more correct phi- 
losophy on this point appeared ? Is it not a physical truth, that 
the whole body of the grain dies, is converted into fine mould, 
which constitutes the first nourishment of the embryo plant, and 
prepr.res it to receive a grosser su])port fiom the surrounding 
soil ; and that nothing lives but the germ which was included in 
this body, and which must die also, if it do not receive from the 
death or putrefaction of the body of the grain, nourishment, so 
as to enable it to unfold itself? Though the body of our Lord 
died, there was still the germ, the quickening posverofthe 
divinity, which reanimated that body, and stamped the atone- 
ment with infinite merit. Thus the merit was multiplied, and 
through the death of that one person, the man Christ Jesus, 
united to the Eternal Word, salvation was procured for the 
whole world. Never was a simile more appropriate ; nor an 
illustration more happy or successful." 

Ff 



218 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 



CHAP. VI. 

ARGUMENTS TENDING TO TROVE THAT THE 
IDENTITY OF THE HUMAN BODY MUST CON- 
SIST IN SOME GERM, OR STAMEN, WHICH RE- 
MAINS IMMOVEABLE. 

SECTION I. 

In which it is argiiedy That the Identity of our fu- 
ture Bodies does not consist in all the numerical 
Particles^ nor in the Majority of them, ichicb 
have occasionally adhered to the Vital Mass, in 
any given Portion of the present Life. 

vJn a subject so abstruse as that of the identity of 
the human body, it is natural to conceive that diffi- 
cuhies will arise from various quarters, and press 
upon us in a variety of forms. The subject itself is 
involved in much obscurity ; it eludes in many 
cases, our most acute researches ; and requires fa- 
culties more penetrating and vigorous, than any 
which we now possess. The rays of light that are 
diffused through the gloom, with which we are en- 
circled, are however sufficient to convince us of its 
certainty ; the difficulties, therefore, which perplex 

us, arise from subordinate causes, but the fact itself 
remains unirnpeached. 



Sect. I.] OV THE HUMAN BODY, Sl,9 

Nor will these difficulties admit of satisfactory 
solutions in all their parts, though we vary the 
modes of our inquiry, and suppose the identity of 
the body to be lodged in either of diose combina- 
tions of matter, in which alone it can possibly be 
placed. For, whether we suppose the identity of 
the body to consist in alt the numerical particles 
zvhich have been occasionally united to the vital 
system, or in some stamen zvhich is lodged zvithin 
its recesses ; or in the majority of those particles 
zvhich formed the body when it sunk into the 
grave; still many difficulties will remain, which we 
cannot fully comprehend. We shall meet in each 
case with obscurities which we cannot pierce, with 
obstacles which we cannot properly surmount, and 
in some cases with arguments which will forbid our 
further progress, because they will involve us in 
contradictions. 

But these difficulties can lay no embargo on the 
exertions of an inquiring mind. For, though they 
are attended with embarrassments which are hostile 
in their appearances, and contradictory in their is- 
sues ; they will discover the avenues of error, and 
direct us from what is wrong to what is right. 

The works of man we may understand ; but those 
actions which no power less than infinite can ac- 
complish, it is but reasonable to believe, that no 
wisdom less than infinite can fully comprehend. 
We discover the most obvious demonstrations of 
these truths in all the varied works of nature; the 
periodical vicissitude of day and night, and the re» 



220 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap VL 

volutions of the seasons, oblige us to admit those 
truths, which excite our astonishment, but leave us 
in the shade. For, in the vast empire of nature, all 
our boasted researches into her secret movements, 
our developement of her recesses, and our investi- 
gation of causes and effects, are not only defective- 
in their nature, but chiefly applied to the mere su- 
perfices of things. The primary causes of all lie 
concealed from mortals ; and the utmost stretch of 
our most penetrating faculties can rise but little 
higher than probability ; and must finally rest in the 
acknowledgement of a self-existent cause, whose na- 
ture and manner of existence are very little known. 
Our inquiries, therefore, in all these cases must be, 
how far should probability be permitted to operate ; 
to produce conviction and to obtain belief? With- 
out doubt, it is our indispensable duty, amidst a va- 
riety of poss/ble cases, which are involved in diffi- 
culty, to select that which appears farthest removed 
from absurdity and error. It is this alone which 
can give it the features of truth, arrest the mind ii> 
its progressive movements, and present a rational 
claim to our belief. 

If the human body rise from the grave, its original 
sameness, in whatsoever it consisted, must be pre- 
served ; because, without this it is not the former 
body but totally another. And it is equally certain 
that in whatsoever this sameness consists, the cases 
which are possible, cannot be infinite ; on the con- 
trary, they must be confined within a narrow com- 
pass and reduced to a diminutive number ; and 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN liODY. 221 

this number w^i'^lt^s but small, has been already 
hinted, in the sc v^ond paragraph of this section. 

If we admit, as we supposed in the first case, 
that all the particles which were once united to the 
corporeal mass, must be ai^ain united to it, to form 
the constituent parts of the body in the resurrec- 
tion ; we shall be obliged to admit, in many cases, 
bodies so vast, that the idea itself is an outrage on 
probability. The size must increase with the pro- 
gress of years, and age must be the criterion from 
whence magnitude must be denominated. In addi- 
tion to this, if all those particles which have occa- 
sionally adhered to our bodies, must be again re- 
united to their respective systems ; our notions will 
immediately become inconsistent with those ideas 
v/hich we have of the transmigration of particles 
from one body to another ; because it will be im- 
possible for the same particles to incorporate with 
two or more bodies at the same time. For, if any 
given particle incorporate with two or more bodies, 
and every particle be necessary to constitute the 
sameness of each body, the presence of every such 
particle must be equally necessary in both cases, to 
constitute the identity of those bodies to which it 
had occasionally adhered. But, since the cases 
which are thus absolutely necessary, must be abso- 
lutely impossible ; it will follow that the identity of 
our future bodies, cannot consist in the re- union of 
all those particles, which were once vitally united to 
the corporeal mass. 

We may easily conceive, while the particles in- 



222 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

corporate with no other body, that no difficulty will 
occur, however they may be disposed of, or in 
what forms soever they may be combined. We 
may suppose them to wander through diiferent re- 
gions ;-— they may ^' float in the breeze, or shiver in 
the grass ;" they may still retain their relative situa- 
tions, W'ithout militating against that theory which 
I oppose, or for which I contend. They may in 
either case, at the voice of the archangel, and the 
trump of God, repair to their respective systems, 
incorporate and adhere for ever. 

But there are cases, in w^iich these theories will 
wear different aspects. 

That cannibals, who feed on human flesh, may 
live by that nutrition, I flatter myself will be denied 
by none ; and, if they live by nutrition derived 
from human flesh, some particles of the devoured 
body must incorporate with the body of the canni- 
bal ; for, how any nutrition can be otherwise de- 
rived, it will perhaps, be impossible to say. The 
continuance of life must depend upon nutrition; and 
the human system must be supported by particles, 
which are derived from that source. But, if those 
particles which are thus introduced into the system 
of a cannibal, were once some of those particles 
which constituted in part thatbody which hixi been 
devoured ; it is certain that these particles must 
have formed, in part, the identity cf that first body, 
and must finally resort thither to form anew its iden- 
tity in the day of the resurrection. And, if each 
and every particle must be again united to the body 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 22^ 

which it once inhabited, in order to constitute its 
general identity ; these particles must be recalled 
from the body of the cannibal, to rejoin their prim- 
itive system. 

But were we to admit this to be the case, new 
difficulties will arise on the formation of the body 
of the cannibal, from which they must be taken. 
For, if the identity of the body, eaten, depends 
upon the collection of every particle which had 
been vitally united to it ; so, in like manner, the 
body of the cannibal must also require each and 
every panicle, which had at any period been vitally 
united to it, in order to constitute and form its fu- 
ture identity. The reasons are equally good, in 
both cases ; and the claims and necessities wear on 
both grounds the same aspect ; but of this we are 
well assured, that the claims of one body must be 
disappointed, because a compliance with both is ab- 
solutely impossible. We have now before us two 
bodies, namely, that of a cannibal, and that of a per- 
son devoured by him, laying equal claims to the 
same particles ; acting alike under equal necessities, 
and founding their respective claims on equal rea- 
sons. But, of this truth we are well assured, that 
the same particle cannot enter into the composition 
of both bodies. And, let it adhere to which bodv 
soever it may ; the deserted body, having lost those 
particles which were once vitally united to it, and 
which on that account are necessary to form its fu- 
ture identity, must remain in an unformed and 
imperfect state. And being thus deprived of its 
identity, it can have no share in a future resurrec- 



224 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vi. 

tion from the dead ; and, consequently, all the other 
constituent parts of this body must be swept away 
with the common mass of matter never dignified 
with life. And, as these consequences cannot be 
avoided, while we admit that all the particles which 
were at any time united to the body, are necessary 
to f^>rm its future identity ; and, as these conse- 
quences will involve us in the contradictions above 
stated, I think this final conclusion is inevitable— 
that all those particles which were once united to- 
gether, cannot be necessary to constitute either the 
identity of the present body, or the identity of that 
body which shall be hereafter. 

To avoid the absurdities which are inseparable 
from the above theory, it has been said, '* i hat all 
the particles which were once united, are not neces- 
sary to constitute the future identity of our bodies ; 
but only tliose which were united to the body at the 
time of its being deposited in the grave." But this 
supposition has its difficulties; difficulties which will 
appear as great, and perhaps as contradictory as the 
former ; and therefore, equally insurmountable. Let 
us suppose that the identity of the body of a canni- 
bal, consists partially in those particles which are 
united to it m that moment when life ends : and that 
this cannibal had drawn his nutrition from human 
flesh. In the case before us, we are drawn, in part, 
to the same conclusions which we have seen above. 

We have now before us a certain number of par- 
ticles, in the body of the cannibal at the time of his 
death, which were taken from the bodies of those 
who had been eaten by him ; and which were taken 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 22^ 

from them at the time of their death, of which this 
was the occasion. In this case, the body eaten will 
have a right to those particles, to form its future 
identity, upon the supposition above given. And, 
as these particles were lodged in the body of the 
cannibal, at the moment of his death ; an equal claim 
will arise from that quarter also. In these cases, 
the two bodies, namely, that of the cannibal, and 
that of the body eaten, will both have the same 
identical particles, even at the moment of their 
deaths. And, if the identity of the body consists 
in the sameness of these particles which were unit- 
ed to the system at the moment of its death ; the 
identity of one of these bodies must be inevitably 
lost, since it is impossible that the same particles 
should constitute the identities of both bodies at the 
same time. And, therefore, the difficulty will not 
be rendered less, by our supposing that those par- 
ticles only, which were united to the body at the 
moment of its death, shall constitute the identity of 
that body which shall bloom beyond the grave. 

To counteract the foice of these reasonings, 
should it be asserted, *'That not the whole, but only 
a part of these particles, indiscriminately taken, 
were lodged in the cold repository of death, will be 
sufficient to constitute the identity of the future 
body ; though myriads of particles should be lost, 
and though myriads more which are perfectly new 
should incorporate with the future system ;" should 
these things be asserted, the absurdities to which 
they lead are not remote. Nor will it be difficult 



226 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

to infer, that there may be as many distinct identi- 
ties, as there are parts which are capable of constitut- 
ing them. For, if out of that almost infinite number 
of particles, which are at all times necessary to con- 
stitute the body of man, any indiscriminate numher 
may be taken ; and if, notwithstanding the adhesion 
of particles, which were never before in the s} stem, 
this indiscriminate number will be sufficient to con- 
stitute the identity of our future bodies ; another 
given number, indiscriminately taken from the same 
system, partaking of the same nature, and inhering 
in the body also when it dropped into the grave, will 
have the same right. This second number may 
also constitute another identity of the same body, 
and we shall then have two identities of the same 
body, which is an absurdity that surpasses, if possi- 
ble, a palpable contradiction. I therefore think the 
conclusion from hence evident also, that particles 
indiscriminately taken from the mass of which our 
bodies were composed, either at death, or through 
any previous portion of their progress in life, must 
be insufficient to constitute the identity of those bo- 
dies, which we hope to possess beyond tlie grave. 
For, as these particles are supposed to be indiscrim- 
inately taken, an equal number of equal particles 
must be equal ; and the same conclusions which will 
result in one case, must, under like circumstances 
result in another, and result in all. And certain it 
is, that that theory which will lead to a conclusion 
too gross to be admitted, and too contemptible to be 
pursued, must in itself be inevitably wrong. 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY.»v U7 

It may perhaps be said ** that it is not any 
given number of particles, indiscriminately taken, 
that is here meant ; but the majority of those par- 
ticles which were united to the body at its death, 
which shall constitute its identity in a future world." 

That this is a removal of the last difficulty, which 
we have considered^ I am ready to admit ; but it is 
only a removal of it to another stage. In another 
stage it will appear again to meet us, and meet us in a 
shape equally formidable to that in which we 
have already seen it ; and appear in every mode 
equally irreconcileable with those truths which can 
never oppose one another. 

If, out of the whole mass of matter which forms 
our mature bodies in the present life, a certain num- 
ber of particles shall be either selected or indiscri- 
minately taken, which amounting to a majority of 
the whole in point of number, shall constitute the 
identity of our future bodies ; it must then be ad- 
mitted that all besides are useless in point of identity, 
and therefore can have no necessary connection with 
it. And, as the identity of the body is now presumed 
to consist in a majority of particles; it must on the 
other side of this question be admitted also, that all 
those particles which are not included in the majo- 
rity which forms the identity of the body, must be 
insufficient to produce or constitute another identity 
of that body ; because it is absolutely impossible 
that two majorities of particles can exist at one and 
the same time. And, as it is impossible that two 
majorities can arise from the constituent parts of the 



^28 IDExMTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

same body, o:* exist at the same time ; it plainly fol- 
lows, that the difficulty we have lately considered 
must be removed by the present supposition. But 
other difFiCukies still remain. 

Let us now suppose those particles which were 
not included in the majority, to be either totally an- 
nihilat, d, or entirely removed ; which must be ad- 
mitted in the resurrection, if the majority of particles 
constitute the identity of that body which shall rise 
from the grave. Under these circumstances, and 
in this case, I would a^k — In what does the iden- 
tity of the future body consist ? It cannot be the 
majority of particles ; because to constitute our idea 
of majority^ the whole mass is necessary, out of 
which the majority is taken. And, as the minor 
number is now annihilated, or perfectly removed, 
the removal or annihilation of this minor number 
must be that very act, by which our idea of majority 
will be totally destroyed. And therefore, if our idea, 
of majority be totally destroyed, by the removal of 
the minor number, it plainly follows that the iden- 
tity of our future bodies cannot be denominated from 
that which has now no longer any existence. All 
therefore that can be included in the supposition^ 
under the present consideration, is, — ** That the 
identity of our future bodies must hereafter consist 
in the union of each and every particle which shall 
rise from the grave ; and which, taken in connection 
with the constituent parts of the former body, con- 
stituted in that general union, the majority of the 
whole ; but which, now the minor number is re- 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 229 

moved, must in itself be changed from a majority 
to a whole.'' 

But even admitting this to be the cac.e, can the 
identity of this future body be the identity of the 
past ? Can that body, the identity of which consist- 
ed in a majority of particles, be the same with this, 
the identity of which consists in the whole ? Is a 
whole, and part of that whole, the same ? Or, can 
the identity of the same body consist in two distinct 
things in the different stages of its being : Can it 
consist in things so distant as ?iparf is from a whole^ 
out of which that part is taken ? If it be the same 
body, with its identity consisting in two distinct 
things, so distinct as a ivliole is from a parf^ we 
must suppose the actual transfer of identity. In 
this case, the same body in distinct modes of its 
being must have two identities ; it must be the same 
with two samenesses, i. e. it must be the same and 
not the same at the same time. 

Either these absurdities must be admitted, or they 
must not. If admitted, we must bid f »rewell to 
argument and reason : if not admitted, it will plainly 
follow, that the identity of the body cannot consist 
in the majority of the particles of that body which 
was sown in weakness, but which shall be raised in 
power ; because it involves inexplicable difficulties, 
and finally terminates in absurdities and contradic- 
tions. 

If a majority of those particles, which constituted 
the body in its former or present state, be that which 
constitutes the future identity of the same body when 
it rises from the grave, identity must be capable of 



330 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

being transferred from one system of atoms to ano- 
ther. But how identity can be capable of any kind 
of transfer is to me a difficulty which I cannot solve. 
That identity, in this case, must be capable of 
being transferred, may be demonstratively inferred 
from the comparative estimate which may be made 
between infancy and maturity ; and those interme- 
diate stages which mark the progressive life of man. 
It will scarcely be asserted, I presume, by any per- 
son, that a full grown man has no more particles in 
his body than he had when an infant at the breast ; 
neither, I conceive, will it be imagined that a ma- 
jority of those particles which this man in maturity 
possesses, were brought with him from an embryo 
state, or from the first dawn of infancy. To suppose 
this, is to violate the evidence of all our senses, and 
to place a visionary theory in direct opposition to 
fact. 

That an infant brings with it into this world an 
identity of body, which it never loses ; will, I con- 
ceive, be denied by none. If we deny this, it will 
be incumbent on us to perform a still more difficult 
task, and to point out the particular time when this 
identity of body is first acquired ; for, that an iden- 
tity of body does exist, we cannot doubt. As there- 
fore this identity of body does exist, it must either 
be coeval with our being, or be acquired at some 
subsequent period. If the identity of our bodies be 
acquired in some subsequent period of their exist- 
ence^ it follows, that the body must have had an 
existence previously to its own identity ; and to sup- 
pose that any thing can exist previously to that 



Sect. I.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 231 

which constitutes its being, is a palpable contradic- 
tion. Therefore, in whatsoever the identity of the 
body consists, it must necessarily be in something 
which is coeval with the body ; it is the same which 
the body possesses through all the changes of life ; 
it must remain incorruptible in the grave, and con- 
tinue through all eternity. 

Should we deny these positions, we must suppose 
that identity itself can be lost in diversity ; and if so 
-that which we call the same person must be acknow- 
ledged to be another ; and if another, it is not the 
subject of our present inquiry. But were the per- 
son or body is the same, there identity must be pre- 
served ; since it is from thence alone that sameness 
both of body and person is denominated and known. 

If the particles which constituted the human body, 
when first it received its identity, were more in 
number than those which it possessed when it recir- 
ed from life, we might, without much difficulty 
behold the majority of these particles, and the iden- 
tity of the body, moving onward in progression to- 
gether, vi^ithout either transfer or change. The 
extraneous particles, in this case, might either be 
incorporated with the body, or thrown off to mix 
with their different elements ; while new particles 
might succeed, and neither the identity of the body, 
nor those particles which gave it stability, would 
undergo either change or decay. But instead of 
this the reverse is the case. 

The particles which belong to the embryo in the 
womb, or which form the body in the first stages of 
l^uman infancy, are, comparatively speaking, but few 



332 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

in number ; and the greater part of these few are 
undergoing perpetual changes. New particles are 
contmually adhering to the original system ; so that 
in a state of manhood, few, very few are to be found 
which composed the human body, when in an infant 
state, or when an embryo in the womb. Yet, in the 
midst of these changes, which are daily demonstra- 
ted before our eyes, we are well assured that the 
identity of our bodies must certainly be preserved ; 
because nothing but this can preserve the same 
person ; the two ideas must stand or fall together. 

These principles and positions being admitted 
(and I know not how they can be denied) let us 
consider what will result from the supposition, that 
the ideniity of the body consists in the majority of 
these particles, which were sown in the grave. 

If the identity of the body consists in a majority 
of those particles, which were sown in the grave, it 
must follow, that in a state of infancy the identity 
of the body must have consisted in some other thing; 
because in a state of infancy, the majority of those 
particles which are sown in the grave, did not exist 
in the body. And, as it must likewise follow, that 
identity must be cneval with the body, and be inse- 
parable from it in all its stages ; it will appear that 
the identity of the body has been transferred from 
that other thing in which it consisted in a state of 
infancy, to this majority of panicles in which it is 
now presumed to consist. It is foreign to our pre- 
sent question, to decide in what this identity consist- 
ed, in an infant state ; it is sufficient to know that it 
could not have consisted in that majority of parti- 



Sect. 1:3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. S33 

cles, in which it is now presumed to be found: a 
majority which did not then belong to the bod}^ in 
%vhich this identity was invariably lodged, and from 
which, on that account, the identity of the infant 
body must be necessarily excluded. The particles, 
which now constitute identity, must have been ac- 
quired since ; and, in some period subsequent to an 
infant state, these particles must have incorporated 
with the body, and on that account, have acquired 
that identity, which in reality existed in the body 
previously to that incorporation. Therefore, iden- 
tity must have been transferred from something in 
which it was originally placed, to this majority of 
particles in which it is now presumed to consist. It 
must have been transferred from that in which it 
consisted in an infant, when this majority of parti- 
cles was not ; to this majority of particles which has 
since been acquired, and since incorporated with 
the primary system. 

It may perhaps, be said, " That the identity of 
the body originally consisted in the majority of par- 
ticles, and it consists in the majority of particles still ; 
and so far as identity is presumed to consist in a 
majority of particles, identity is still the same." Ad- 
mitting all that is here contended for, it will not 
affect the subject under consideration ; it will not 
prove that identity consists in a majority of those 
same particles, of which the body either is or wa.s 
composed. It will prove the identity of the modi' 
Jicallon of identity^ rather than identity itself. It 
will point out that the way and manner of our iden- 
tity are still the same ; but it will not prove that 

li h 



234 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

identity consists now in the same individual parti- 
cles that it did then. Nay, it will rather prove the 
reverse of what it was designed to prove. The 
identity of the body cannot depend upon the same 
arrangement of materials, indiscriminately chosen, 
but must depend upon the sameness of the materi- 
als themselves. To make therefore the identity of 
the body to consist in the peculiarity of modifica- 
tion, is to leave the thing modified quite out of the 
question ; and it is to make the identity of the body 
consist in that, to which both its name and nature 
must be alike unknown. As, therefore, the iden- 
tity of the body must consist in the sameness of 
materials, and not in the sameness of the modifica- 
tion of materials, without considering whether same- 
ntess will apply to the materials or not ; and, as the 
sameness of materials, cannot at those two distinct 
periods become the constituent parts of the same 
body, in both of which periods identity does exist ; 
it will follow, either that identity istransferrable; or, 
that identity cannot be constituted by any indiscrim- 
inate majority of particles, cohering at any given 
period in the general mass. 

That identity cannot be transferred from one 
system of atoms to another, is a proposition which, 
if not self-evident, approaches it so nearly, that it 
will be difficult to find any proof more forcible than 
the fact itself. An identitv, which can be transfer- 
red seems to involve a contradiction. Every identity 
must be the identity of something ; and, under the 
present consideration, it must be either the identity 
of the former body, or of the latter ; of that body 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 235 

which existed in a state of infancy, or of that which 
was interred in the grave. It cannot be of the for- 
mer ; because the majority of the particles of that 
body has now given place to that of the present. 
And if it were, the circumstance of its consisting in 
the majority of the particles of an infant body, will 
efFectuallv prevent it from consisting in the majority 
of the particles of that body which is interred in the 
grave ; because the majority of the particles of a 
mature body, must be much more, both in quantity 
and in number, than the whole of the body of an 
infant. And, though we suppose that identity may 
consist in the majority of the particles of the body 
which is mature ; it will want the great part and 
principal characteristic of proving sameness in this 
which zV, and that which loas. The infant body 
existed before the majority of the present particles 
had any inherence in the general mass ; and conse- 
quently, that body must then have had an identity 
distinct from the present. For if the identity of the 
body consist in the majority of particles, the infant 
body must have had an identity which must have 
stood or fallen with the permanency of the particles 
which then were. If the majority of particles be 
now the same, the former identity must still remain ; 
but, if that majority is changed, the former identity 
which depended upon, and consisted in them, must 
be totally done away. And, in either case, a trans- 
fer of identity must involve a contradiction, and 
therefore must be impossible. If the identity of the 
body be transferred, it must be an identity without 



2f56 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

sameness ; and if it be not transferred, the identity 
of an infant's body cannot be constituted by the 
majority of those particles, which, in a more ad- 
vanced state, fall into the grave# 

The final conclusion from these premises, there- 
fore, must be, that the identity of the body cannot 
consist either in the tvhole of the corporeal mass, 
or, in any given number vf particles indiscrimU 
natehj taken from that mass ; or in the majority of 
those particles which fell into the grave when the 
body died. It cannot consist in the first ; for this 
supposition would make the body of an enormous 
size, and would be contradicted also by fact, as in 
the case of cannibals. Nor can it consist in the 
second case, which we have supposed ; for this 
would leave room for many identities of the same 
body, which v/ould be absurd. Neither can it be 
in the last case, which we have supposed ; because 
this will lead us to suppose an identity without 
sameness, or a transfer of sameness from one sys- 
tem of atoms to another. And, as each of these 
conclusions is in itself absurd in the highest degree, 
and carries widi it its own refutation, we are finally 
led to this point, that the identity of our future bo- 
dies cannot consist in either of the cases, which has 
hitherto been considered, or which we have thus- 
far been able to explore. 

But, whatever difficulties may attend this subject 
of our inquiry, of this we are certain, that the iden- 
tity of the body does exist ; and it seems equally 
certain, that it must consist in something, which 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 237 

retains its sameness under all the changes of life, 
the shocks of death, and must continue the same 
to eternity. 

SECTION IL 

Arguments tending to prove^ That the sameness^ 
of our future bodies must be constituted by 
some Ger7n, or Sfavien j arid that zve now possess 
alt the Evidence of a Resurrect ion^ ivhich zve can 
rationally expect in the present State. 

We have seen in the preceding section, those insu- 
perable difficulties which are connected with the 
various modes, in which we have hitherto considered 
the identity of the human body, both in time and in 
eternity. It now remains to be considered, whether 
those objections, which are brought against the sup- 
position, that identity consists in some germ or sta- 
men, have in them sufficient validity to counteract 
th^ probable evidence, which can be advanced in 
favour of its reality. And also, whether we have 
or have not all the evidence in favour of a resurrec- 
tion, which we might rationally expect in the pre- 
sent state. 

It is not improbable, that our notions of some 
germ being lodged within the compages of our bo- 
dies, were first taken from the lips of inspiration, in 
that grand description which St. Paul has given us 
of the resurrection of the dead. It is upon this, as 
one leading idea, that he builds the system which he 
has there laid down. And notwithstanding the in- 



238 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

comprehensibleness of its nature, the perfect ana- 
logy which subsists between the powers of vegeta- 
tion and the final restitution of the body from the 
grave, presents to us an evidence, which taken in 
all its parts, will render the subject before us pro- 
bable in the highest degree. 

I have already observed, that were the analogy 
to be minutely examined, the probability appears 
much more in favour of the resurrection, than in 
favour of vegetation ; when considered in all its 
parts, and in connection with all its circumstances. 
What once had life, we well know must have been 
capable of it ; but what was never endued with life, 
has not so much as this distant possibility to recom- 
mend it. We well know that what once had life 
must be capable of life in future ; but, what never 
was endued with life, may for aught we know, be 
so constituted as to be incapable of possessing it. 

That the body is now endutd with life, we have 
the most unquestionable evidence ; and therefore 
may thence presume that it may be again restored, 
because we are thus assured that the materials of 
which our bodies are composed, are capable of re- 
ceiving it. But, the vegetative power of grain 
could not originally have had this evidence to re- 
commend it. Yet, in that subject which seems 
most improbable, we behold the fact actually ac- 
complished in each succeeding harvest ; and even 
this circumstance gives us every reason to believe 
that when the allotted period shall arrive, our bo- 
dies shall be reanimated also, though the ways and 
modes by which each of these is accomplished are 



Sect. ILj OF THE HUMAN BODY. 239 

in both cases alike unknown to us, and may remain 
so through eternity. 

By the term germ or stameny I understand a cer- 
tain principle of future being, which was lodged in 
the human body at its primary formation ; which 
has '* grown with its growth" through all the inter- 
mediate stages of life ; which constitutes perpetual 
sameness ; and which shall form the rudiments of 
our future bodies. That it shall remain forever as 
a radical and immoveable principle ; and shall ei- 
ther collect matter around it, which collected matter 
shall adhere forever, or contain within it all those 
particles Vi^hich are necessary to constitute those 
bodies which we shall perpetually possess. 

On its magnitude and dimensions I will not pre. 
sume even to risk a thought ; and the recess of its re- 
sidence, while included in the present vehicle, is per- 
haps of such a nature as will not admit of investiga- 
tion. It may be diffused throughout the present 
body, by an innate expansive power which it pos- 
sesses, and by the shock of death it may be capable 
of such contraction, as to render it impervious to 
attack, and invulnerable by all assaults. During 
its repose in the grave, it will, no doubt, be pre- 
served from incorporating with the identity of other 
bodies, and from putting forth any operations ex- 
cept such as are peculiar to its state. 

We see this principle of sameness perfectly pre- 
served in every species of gr:»!n, which is around 
us ; and we can have no kind of conception that a 
germ of future wheat can, by any possible process, 
become a constituent part of a grain of rye, or of 



1240 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

barley. This strange commixture would brealc 
down the order which God has established in the 
empire of nature ; and finally tend to banish same- 
ness from the world. The identity of grain, must 
therefore be preserved ; and if the identity of grain 
must be preserved, why should we suppose that the 
germ of future life (in which consists the identity of 
the body) and which is now lodged within its con- 
fin.s) should be swallowed up in diversity, sooner 
than that of a simple grain, with which St. Paul has 
compared it? The same power, which has preserved 
and which does preserve the one, can without doubt 
preserve the other also. The order and harmony 
of all nature require it. In the case of grain, events 
have fully demonstrated it; and the veracity of God 
is engaged to ensure to us the certainty of its pre- 
servation in man. And the evidence is of equal 
validity in both cases, so far as the pi ogress of time 
will identify the correspondent analogy. 

There was a period in the origin of things, which 
elapsed between the creation of grain and the first 
harvest ; when the evidences of that fact, and of the 
resurrection of the human body were precisely 
the same. And, if God were now to create any 
given form of matter, endued with a vegetative 
principle, as remote from all resemblance to grain, 
as it should be from the human body, the cases 
would be precisely similar, and the evidences on 
both sides would h^ nearly equal. But, when the 
effect of vegetation should come forth to substan- 
tiate, by ocular demonstration, the certainty of its 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. £4i 

germinating powers ; every doubt would then be 
removed from our mind. And, in process of time, 
we should view the successive changes without any 
wonder ; as much so, as we now view the continual 
changes of seed time and harvest, and the alternate 
vicissitudes of corruption and germination. 

This case is precisely our own ; it is true, we dif- 
fer from grain, in that we move by a much slower 
process. But, the germ of future life is already 
lodged within our bodies ; it will soon be sown in 
the earth, and in the day of eternity, it shall be 
awakened into immortal life. The grain, which is, 
fleeting and transitory, moves with speedy transition 
through all its evolutions ; we therefore behold all its 
parts in one collected view But the human body, 
being destined for perpetual duration, and having an 
eternity before it, moves by slow but no less certain 
steps through those necessary changes, which, when 
once passed, can never more return. 

Under these views, how can the whole scene be 
less than wonderful, when we survey it in all its 
parts ? In our present state, we see but in part,-— 
the sequel is reserved for another state of existence. 
And, in our present condition, while v/e see nothing 
more than the body sown, and while we are fuily 
assured that the whole face of nature must be chane- 
ed, before it can rise from the grave ; why do we 
look for greater evidence than even our own reason 
has taught us to expect ? Or, why do we look 
for greater evidence than the nature of the sub- 
ject can possibly afford ? The vast changes, which 
all nature must undergo before this event can be 

accomplished, have not yet taken place ; and until 

I i 



242 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI, 

those changes shall be accomplished, we can no 
more expect the resurrection of the body, than we 
can suppose that an effect can precede its cause. 

In the order of nature, the seed time must first 
exist. And, after the grain is sown, it must vege- 
tate and produce its fruits, before we can see the 
final result of all. Now if we stop at any stage in 
this progress, and in that stage attempt to decide 
upon the certainty or uncertainty of the future 
event, without waiting the arrival of that period in 
which alone the final result can be expected to ap- 
pear ; we have in such cases nothing more to ex- 
pect, than disappointment and error, as the just re- 
ward of our indescretion and presumption. 

Just such is the case before us. The seed is 
already in existence ; in many cases we have seen 
it sown. But the final harvest, nothing but the 
season of harvest can produce. And, as this sea- 
son of harvest is lodged beyond the boundaries of 
our present state, we can expect no more evidence 
on this side of th<? grave ; and what further evi- 
dence the subject may be capable of affording, wc 
must assuredly die to know. 

As to the certainty of the result, we have for our 
ground-work the whole analogy of nature, and the 
infallible declaration of God ; and they who doubt, 
under these circumstances, will not be satisfied with 
any thing short of ocular demonstration. But,, I ap- 
peal to any man, — can ocular demonstration possi- 
bly take place in the present state ? Can you prove 
to any man or men, by ocular demonstration, the re- 
sflirrcction of the humanbody^ without calling eter- 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 343 

nity to your aid? Th^ face of the question in- 
volves eternity; it necessarily refers to another 
world; and to have ocular demonstration of an 
event, which necessarily refers to eternity, without 
eternity, includes a contradiction. And, if ocular 
demonstration cannot be obtained, we must be con- 
tent with such evidence as God has placed within 
our reach. We have all the proof that the pro- 
gressive state of the subject can afford ; and to ex- 
pect more is unreasonable and unjust. 

But, when the times of restitution shall arrive ; 
and the great period which is appointed by the 
allotment of heaven, for the renovation of human 
nature, shall be accomplished ; we shall then, with- 
out doubt, have all that reason to expect the event 
to correspond with the elapsing period, which we 
have now to remain without it ; and to be satisfied 
with such evidence as we have. But, until that 
period arrives, we have no more reason to charge 
the doctrine of the resurrection with an insufficiency 
of evidence, than we have to attribute to a grain of 
wheat a want of fruitfulness, before the great pro* 
cess of nature has passed upon it. 

Objections may here be urged against ^he anal* 
ogy between vegetation and the resurrection, from 
the disproportion of time in which the bodies of 
men repose in the grave. For answers to these 
objections, I refer the reader to chapter five, and 
section three of this work. 

Admitting this germ, or principle of identity, for 
v/hich I contend, to have existed in a seminal state 
from the first to the last of the human race ; then 



344 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

every movement of time, which has elapsed from 
Adam down to the present hour, must have had its 
influence in an equal manner, upon all the individ- 
uals of the human race, who have ever lived, or shall 
live to the latest periods of time. All, therefore, 
in the natural process will be alike prepared ; and 
will be equally ready when the trumpet shall sound, 
to start forth at once into life and immortality. 

The short interval of life, I consider of no mo- 
ment, when compared to that stupendous range of 
time which reaches from creation, down to the day 
of judgment. It can be no more than a single point, 
which loses itself in the vast abyss with which it is 
connected. i'he importance of time can only be 
esjmated from its connection with moral action. 
As it stands in relation to the grand pr-xess of that 
germinating principle, which shall be the stamen of 
our future bodies in eternity ; it can be but as the 
minutest drop to the unbounded ocean, or as an 
insensible atom on the shore. It may, neverthe- 
less, be a necessary and a constituent part of the 
great process itself, through which we must pass ; 
and even the inequalities of the duration of human 
life, may be as necessary as life itself, to form and 
coixiplete the minute parts of the amazing whole. 



Sect. III.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 145 



SECTION III. 

The Objections against the Idea of a Germ^ as coji- 
stitutiiig the Identity of the Body hereajter, no 
Argument against i^s Certainty. Several Objec- 
tions considered. Several Changes of our Bod- 
ies highly probable. 

We have already seen in some of the preceding 
sections, the difficulties which obstruct our progress 
in the various suppositions which we have formed. 
We are fully satisfied that a principle of identity 
must exist ; but that which constitutes it, is not so 
easy to explore. We have already considered those 
suppositions, which place the identity of the body 
in all the panicles which were deposited in the grave ; 
and we have been led to obstacles which are not 
only insurmountable, but big with absurdities of the 
grossest nature. The same or similar obstructions 
have presented themselves before us in that suppo- 
sition, which places the identity of the body in the 
greatest number of particles indiscriminately taken, 
either at the moment of the interment of the body, 
or at any previous period of life. The certainty of 
the principle obliges us to explore another region ; 
and we are driven to some immoveable stamen as 
our last resort. 

Whatever it may be, which constitutes the inden- 
tity of the body, it must be a something which re- 
tains an immoveable permanency in the midst of 



245 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

fluctuation ; and continues the same through all 
those changes which the body is destined to under- 
go. Nothing, therefore, can be so congenial to the 
case before Ub as the supposition which we now 
make ; that some radical particles mast be fixed 
IV I thin II Sy zvhich constitute our sameness through 
all -he mutations of life ; and which, remaining 
m a ytale of incorruptibility^ 6 hall put J or fh a ger- 
minatuig power beyond the grave, and be the germ 
oj our tut art bodies. 

or the term itself, a definition has been already 
give.i ; and 1 now proceed to examine the prin- 
cipal objecti'^.ns by which it is opposed. It has been 
said, that, '*if in the present life, we suppose the 
identity of the body to be lodged in any given num- 
ber of immoveable particles ; a part must then con- 
stitute the whole, which is an evident absurdity." 

That a theory which makes a part to constitute a 
xvhole must necessarily be erroneous, I am willing 
to allow ; because the supposition includes a con- 
tradiction. But, that snc!i nosurdities will follow^ 
from the supposition and premises before us ; is to 
me neither clear nor satisfactory. On the contrary, 
the objection which has been started will not apply 
to the case in hand ; but to subjects with which our 
inquiry has little or no connection. 

The subject before us is not an inquiry into the 
constituent parts of the human body ; but into its 
id'mtity. It is not its numerical particles, but the 
sameness of personality. These are distinct ideas, 
and can only have in this view, a distant connec- 
tion with one another. The numerical particles, of 



Sect. III.l OF THE HUMAN BODY. 247 

which our bodies are composerl, are in a state of 
perpetual flux ; but since sameness of persm re- 
mains under every chanjje which thrse nun-ricil 
particles undergo, it plainly folljws, that tfiat in 
which sameness consists, must remain imm )veable 
also ; and hence it follows, that those particles 
which constitute the whole body, and the identity 
of that body, must necessarily be distinct from one 
another. For certain it is, that if the sameness of 
the body consisted in all the numerical particles of 
which that body was composed, sameness must be 
capable of a transfer ; and, consequently, must be 
destroyed by the supposition which we are obliged 
thus to admit, that the identity of the body must 
not only be compatible with those changes which 
the body perpetually undergoes ; but must be 
lodged in some secret recess which these changes 
cannot reach. 

Having thus two distinct ideas, one of the iden- 
tity of the body, and the other of the component or 
numerical parts of which the body is formed, we 
can plainly perceive that the latter may change, 
while the former remains perfect and entire ; and 
the reason is, because the former is not dependent 
upon the latter for its existence. It therefore fol- 
lows, that the admission of an inherent principle, 
which shall become a germ of future life, having 
only a remote connection with these floating parti- 
cles which occasionally form the body, cannot in- 
clude within it that contradiction which the objec- 
tion has supposed. For, if to admit a germ or 
principle of identity ^^ will oblige us to admit that a 



348 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

part must contain or comprehend a whole, then no 
such distinct ideas can possibly be formed as those 
which have been pointed out. The objection itself is 
founded upon a supposition, that the identity of the 
body must consist in the numerical particles, of 
which the whole mass is evidently composed. One 
of these two points must therefore, be given up ; — • 
either that which makes a part to comprehend a 
whole, which is the amount of the objection, or that 
which supposes the identity of the body to remain, 
amidst the changes which its numerical parts un- 
dergo, because they are incompatible* with each 
other. But, as the latter of these points is founded 
upon fact, and the former which is included in the 
objection upon theory ; — as the latter is founded 
upon ocular demonstration, and the former is only 
speculatively probable ; — as the latter can appeal to 
visible proof in the growth and changes which are 
conspicuous in the human body, and the former 
can only appeal to abstract hypothesis ; it is certain, 
I think, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the nu- 

* Their incompatability arises from this consideration : The 
Contradiction, which the objection supposes, can only be admit- 
ted to exist, while we suppose the identity of the body to be 
lodged in all its numerical parts. The very instant that we 
suppose a distinction between the numerical particles at large, 
and that principal, or germ, in which identity consists ; that very 
instant we destroy the contradiction which has been supposed, 
5ind reconcile our own views with those suppositions which 
have been made. And therefore, because the identity of the 
body is not presumed to extend to the whole mass ; it cannot be 
charged with a contradiction, which on account of distinction i* 
rendered inconsistent with its nature. 



Sect. Ill] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 249 

merical parts of the body may diange, while its 
idaitily remains entire. And, as this fact is in- 
compatible with the supposition, that a part must 
comprehend a whole, but is perfectly compatible 
with the idea of a germ, as constituting the iden- 
tity of the body, the evidence is at once decisive 
and unquestionable. The conclusion, therefore, is 
that our idea of a germ does not include the con- 
tradiction, which the objection has supposed — that 
a *' part must contain or comprehend a ivJwle ;''^ and 
we may safely admit, that the identity of the body 
may consist in some germ, as we have supposed, 
without involving ourselves either in absurdities or 
contradictions. 

Whatever is probable, and involves neither ab- 
surdity nor contradiction, may be with safety ad- 
mitted in speculative reasonings; but the idea of a 
germ is probable, and includes neither absurdity 
nor contradiction ; and therefore the idea of a germ 
may with safety be admitted, as that in which the 
identity of the body does consist. 

It has frequently been said, that "all germs must 
contain within themselves the individual parts of 
that future production which shall be hereafter ;" 
and even this has been advanced as an argument 
against the admission of that germ, for which I am 
contending. But, this objection, together with the 
arguments by which it has been supported, is rather 
fictitious than real. It is founded upon a supposi- 
tion, which is taken for granted as being a fact, 
but which in reality is destitute of proof. 

Kk 



250 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

That all germs must contain within them a vir- 
tual energy, to produce that being or thing, of 
which they are the germs, must without all doubt 
be admitted ; but this is a notion, distinct from that 
which supposes that all the individual parts are ac- 
tually there. The radical energy to produce, may 
exist, without including any thing of formal being. 
Where all the parts are in actual existence, noth- 
ing more can be necessary, than simple develope- 
ment, to unfold the latent members which were pri- 
iparily inherent. But, this will not be consistent 
with the idea which we have of a germ. 

If all the parts of that body, which shall be here- 
after, are now included in its present germ of future 
existence, as parts, and nothing but simple deve- 
lopement be necessary to render formal existence 
visible ; no new accession of extraneous particles 
can be deemed necessary ; because the admitting of 
the necessity of new particles to fill up any given 
vacuities, implies previous imperfection in that for- 
mal existence, which was admitted. We have as 
much reason to admit formal perfection, as we have 
formal existence ; and the same arguments, which 
will militate against the one, must necessarily mili- 
tate against the other. That formal perfection 
does not exist, is demonstrated by fact ; and front 
this source we are fully assured that those argu- 
Tnents, which would announce it, must of necessity 
be wrong. And, without all doubt, could we view 
formal existence, with the same precision as we 
yiew formal perfection, we should see equal reason 



Sect. IIL] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 25^ 

to discard both. * Even the term germ itself implies 
prematurity and imperfection; and we have as 
much reason to suppose that this imperfection and 
prematurity applies to the formality^ as well as to 
the completion of existence. 

When we turn our thoughts to the germ of fu- 
ture being, as it applies to the bodies which shall 
be hereafter ; there are two views in which it may 
be contemplated. Tht^first of these, is to view the 
germ as being a fixed principle, to which extrane- 
ous atoms shall adhere to complete the frame ; and 
the second is to view this germ as including all 
those particles which are necessary to constitute 
that body which shall survive the grave. On both 
of these we will make some remarks. In the first 
of these views, a germ can only be considered as a 
radical or seminal principal, which becomes the 
foundation of the future body ; and is that, from 
whence future life shall eminate. That it is that 
fixed principle which shall survive the grave ; 
around which future atoms shall rally, and to which 
they shall adhere, to form that body which we shall 
possess for ever. 

If the germ of being, which constitutes the cha* 
racteristic of animals and plants, and which in real- 
ity seminally contains their essential powers^ were- 
to contain within itself in the present life, the for*;* 
mal parts of those bodies, which are to succeed in 
future generations ; then nothing more than simple 
developement would be necessary to complete the 
future mass ; nor would the adherence of any addi- 
tional atom, be necessary to give a completion 



2t52 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

which must be supposed to be inlierent. But, to 
admit this supposition, would be to make an end 
of all distinctions between degrees of ponderosity 
and degrees of magnitude ; it would be to annihi- 
late those degrees which exist in each, in proportion 
to the specific quantity of matter that they contain. 
This would, in fact, involve an absurdity ; because 
it would make a part to contain a whole. But to 
admit only a mode of material existence, which in- 
cludes within it a virtual, or potential ^'nefgy to 
produce a future body, and from which, all degrees 
of magnitude and ponderosity are perfectly excluded 
in the consideration ; the supposition will exclude 
the absurdities of the last sentence, while the germ 
itself will retain the capability of becoming the foun- 
dation and permanent principle of that future body, 
which is presumed to result from it. 

That all causes include their effects, will, perhaps, 
be denied by none ; but we cannot conceive, from 
admitting this axiom, that effects reside in their 
causes in a formal manner ; or that the effect can 
exist in its cause, in the character of an effect. All 
that we can possibly conceive by such language, is, 
that a virtual energy resides in the cause, adequate 
to produce that effect which we attribute to it, vvhea 
brought into actual operation. 

Were we to suppose, that the fruit which any 
given tree should produce, actually existed in the 
tree itself in a formal manner ; the effect w^ould, in 
many cases, be much greater than its cause, winch 
we are well assured is totally impossible. And, in 
like manner, could we suppose, that all the individ- 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 253 

ual parts of all the posterity of Adam, were actually 
and formally resident within the loins of our great 
progenitor ; it would raise him into a state of being 
monstrous and absurd. It seems, therefore, more 
congenial with our understandings and judgments, 
to suppose that Adam possessed the power of be- 
getting his posterity, than to conceive that all his 
posterity, to the latest periods of time, were actually 
included or resident within him. It is in this view, 
than an effect may with the utmost propriety, be 
said to reside within its cause. The cause must 
possess a virtual energy, which it is capable of ex- 
erting ; ir\ order to produce those effects, which 
time only can ripen into maturity, and which must 
look back to this cause as the origin of their 
existence. 

But, even admitting, inahe progress of reasoning, 
that all effects actually reside within their causes ; 
and that the germ of being, for which I contend, as 
applying exclusively to the human body, contains 
within it all the minute and insensible parts of that 
body which shall be ; I say, admitting that these 
effects have this formal existence, yet I have no 
conception that this supposition would involve the 
resurrection in any difficulty. For, in the case be- 
fore us it could not be said to contain within it, the 
numerical particles of the body which 7iozo is, but 
of that body which shall be j and, therefore, those 
difficulties which may be inseparable from this mode 
of accounting for seminal existence in the present 
life, can have no kind of application beyond the 
grave. I now proceed to the second view. 



254 IDENTITY AND RESURRtCTlON [Chap. VL 

The bodies, which shall be raised hereafter from 
the sleep of death, we are fully satisfied, will be of 
a refined and spiritual nature so far as matter in its 
most exalted state can be abstracted from its gross- 
ness, without losing any essential property of its 
nature. Under these circumstances, the real num- 
ber of particles which is necessary to form that im- 
mortal and spiritual body which shall be, may be 
considerably less than that w^hich is necessary to 
form those bodies which we have in the present life. 
With the powers of expansion we are but little 
acquainted ; it is a term when applied to the parti- 
cles of matter, to which we can hardly annex any 
precise idea ; and we are therefore unable to calcu- 
late upon its extent. How far those particles which 
shall compose our bodies hereafter, may be capable 
of dilation, and of admitting vacuities in their min- 
ute recesses, in order to give extension to the ex- 
tremities of the body which they shall compose, it 
is impossible for us to say. But, even simple ex- 
tension may supply the place of matter; and tend 
to spiritualize the body which shall survive the 
grave. On these grounds, an inconsiderable num- 
ber of particles may be sufficient to form the body ; 
and that portion which now constitutes its identity, 
may perhaps contain within it all those atoms which 
may be necessary to the formation of a spiritual 
body beyond the grave. 

The power of expansion, when applied to matter, 
will open to our view a field of wonders which we 
cannot fathom ; and, like that space which suggests 
to us the idea of its existence, it seems an ocean 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 255 

without bottom and without shore. It is a pathless 
region, in which we may wander in endless excur- 
sions, till we completely lose ourselves in our own 
contemplations. 

As the future bodies, which we expect to pos- 
sess beyond the grave, will be lights active^ and 
volatile j and as the matter of which they will be 
composed, will be so far refined, that it will become 
comparatively spiritual in its nature; we are led 
immediately to conclude, that the specific quantity 
of matter which will be necessary then, can bear 
but a small proportion to the quantity which is now 
requisite. The changes which our present bodies 
must undergo corroborate this truth ; and induce 
us to believe that we have more particles now, than 
we shall have then. 

The particles expanded into a tenuity, with which 
we are but imperfectly acquainted, may sustain their 
relative positions in the future system ; and com- 
plete that organization which will be necessary for 
the state which these bodies shall inherit. And, 
while the density of the parts which are so neces- 
sary in the present economy of life, shall be remov- 
ed ; the particles themselves which constituted it, 
must be removed also, because not wanted. This 
removal must therefore lighten the mass of its cum- 
berous load ; and contribute towards that activity^ 
tenuity, and energy, which shall remain forever. 
Our uniform expectations tend to confirm these 
observations ; because they find a mirror in every 
feeling heart. 



256 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vt. 

The precise quantity of matter which iTiay be 
necessary to Ci^mplete that organization which out 
bodies will then possess, may be but exceedingly 
small. For, as the present organs themselves will 
undergo surprising chinges, and those parts which 
required the greatest compactness and density of 
materials, will, in all probability be done away ; a 
small portion of matter may be sufficient to fix those 
organs in a state of perpetual vigour, which have 
ripened in the grave, and which shall flourish in 
eternity. And, therefore, the ^germ which is now 
lodged within us in some secret and unapproacha- 
able recess of our bodies, may contain within itself 
all those numerical particles, which may be neces- 
sary to form that future spiritualized body, which 
shall succeed to this which we now possess. 

The modification, indeed, of tho e particles 
which shall remain, must be totally changed ; and 
perhaps they may be difierently combined ; so that 
what now forms but an invisible portion may be 
diffused on every side. And by the peculiar con- 
figuration of the parts, and exquisite disposition of 
the constituent materials ; this portion may be ca- 
pable, through the power of expansion, of engross- 
ing the same superfices of space as our present bod* 
ies now engross. 

It may, perhaps, be said, *' that the above obser- 
vations will make a part to contain a whole." I ad- 
mit the fact, but deny the absurdity which perhaps 
may be inferred. The utmost that can be said is 
this, that these observations make a part of that 



Sect. 111.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 257 

body which nozo is, to contain the whole of that body 
which shall be hereafter, which may be done with- 
out absurdity or contradiction. 

Of the various changes which our bodies shall 
undergo, we can form but inadequate conceptions ; 
and these conceptions must be much confused. 
Even the stations which our future bodies are des- 
tined to occupy, demand an important change in 
their constitution; and afford much corroborating 
evidence to support the sentiment now before us. 

When all the intestines shall be destroyed, and 
blood shall be no longer necessary to repair the 
system — when the mediums of nutrition shall be 
done away — when the organs of respiration, and 
generation shall be for ever removed — and all dis- 
tinctions of sex shall be abolished — we see convinc- 
ing reasons why a large proportion of our present 
materials may be spared. The removal of these 
organs, and consequently of the materials of which 
they are formed, must make a considerable deduc- 
tion from the general stock, as well as form a new 
epoch in human existence. On these considera- 
tions, the reduction in real quantity must be so 
great, as to leave no occasion for more particles 
than what the germ itself may be able to supply, 
without the admission of any new atom into any part 
of the spiritualized system. 

In the mean while, the exterior of the human 
figure may be preserved entire, in all its parts ; and 
tven the particular turn of those features, and coun- 

lI 



358 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION fChfep. VL 

tenances,* by which we shall be able to recognize 
our departed friends, will be secured from the in- 
juries of d(fath and the dissolution of the grave. 
They will, in all probability, be considerably im- 
proved by the changes which the body shall have 
undergone ; at once heightened by the flush of 
youth which shall never fade ; with vigour which shall 
never decay ; and with life which shall never end. 

The particular manner, in which this radical prin- 
ciple, which now constitutes the identity of the hu- 
man body exists, is too obscure for our develope- 
ment ; too mysterious for our researches. It may 

* Against the supposition, that the same exterior figure, and 
particular turn of features and countenances will be preserved, 
notwithstanding the changes which the body will undergo^ 
it may perhaps be objected, " That bodily defects and deformi- 
ties will be perpetuated also." To this I answer, that what is 
thus presumed, is by no means a necessary consequence of the 
theory for which I contend. It is more than probable, that 
those deformities which we now behold, are lodged in those 
extraneous parts which are but mere appendages to the princi- 
J^le of bodily identity. We are confirmed in this opinion, by 
circumstances of daily observation. When we compare the 
shrivelled muscles oi fourscore^ with the blush of beauty which 
the age oi nineteen exhibits; we cannot but perceive compari- 
tive deformity. And yet we are fully assured that sameneas of 
person has continued under all the stages of variation. The 
same obsei*valions may be made on the complexion of those 
countenances, -which shall be preserved. In this aiio, we be^ 
hold in the present life some diminutive changes. The process 
of corruption may therefore renovate the complexion as well 
as the body, and bring the whole of the human race to a stand- 
ard of external beauty, of which we are incompetent to form 
atlcquate conceptions-. 



Sect, in.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 259 

be so far distended as to pervade the whole mass 
of matter of which our bodies are composed ; or at 
least, may form those attenuated outlines, which 
give permanency to our features ; and to which ex* 
traneous matter adheres in the present life. To this 
portion the organs may be annexed; or perhaps 
within its confines they may be lodged ; and those 
particles which are vitally united to it, in any stage 
of our present being, in all probability become parts 
of our bodies, from partaking of that common life 
which appears to be connected with it. In this 
view, it becomes a medium of action, through which 
the exterior organs communicate intelligence to the 
immaterial spirit, with which it is connected, and to 
which it is allied. And, when the immaterial spirit 
which is most probably united to this principle of 
identity, shall be removed •> then this principle of 
identity shall be withdrawn from its distention, or 
at least shall cease to operate ; and retiring into 
itself, the whole body shall sink into a lifeless mass* 

From the latent properties of this principle, it is 
highly probable that it may diflfuse its attenuated 
fibres, through those parts which may be considered 
as the principal seats of life ; while even that flexi- 
bility of texture which is inseparable from its nature, 
may add to the permaiiency of its being, and unite 
its materials with an adhesion Vv'hich shall continue 
forever. 

Capable of retiring within itself, when any of the 
organical parts are wounded) through which it had 
been diffused, it will lose no part by such exterior 



260 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

mutilation^. Like the sensitive plant, it will shrink 
from the touch of violence, and hang upon its own 
centre like the world which we inhabit. The lobes 
of matter, through which it had been diffused, but 
from which it is now driven by force ; no longer 
able to perform the functions which were peculiar 
to their station, while united to the principle of iden- 
tity, may remain while the uses of them are totally 
withdrawn, and nothing continues but the configu- 
ration of parts* 

This germ, in which the identity of the body is 
lodged, having retired from the forsaken part, re- 
moves with the removal of itself, all that energy 
which can distinguish tlie organs from the mere 
modification of matter ; and will be prepared to 
diffuse this energy which now resides within itself, 
through any new particles which may be vitally 
united to it. And-, as all matter is in its own na- 
ture incorruptible, and therefore placed beyond the 
influence of dissolution and decay ; when this germ^ 
either with or without new particles of matter which 
shall collect around it, uniting with its immaterial 
partner, shall retire into a more permanent region, 
where it shall be for ever removed from those ex- 
ternal causes which in our present state are capable 
of destroying the adhesion and cement of matter in 
almost every form ; it shall commence a mode of 
being which shall continue through eternity. For, 
what being soever shall inhabit a state into which 
nothing shall enter, and in which nothing can exist 
that is capable of conducting it towards a state of 
dissolution, that being, whatsoever may be the mo- 



Sect. III. J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 361 

dification of its nature, must necessarily be immor- 
tal, and consequently must continue for ever. 

It is to this germ of future being that the imma- 
terial spirit is, most probably, united in the present 
life, though by ways and modes which we cannot 
comprehend ; and it is to this that it shall be again 
reunited, and with which it shall continue for ever. 
While in a state of union with the spirit, in this life, 
its immortal partner caused it to be diffused through 
the vital parts of the corporeal mass. But, after 
this spirit was withdrawn, it shrivelled and retired 
within itself. During this state of separation, it 
continued in a torpid state ; but when a reunion 
shall again take place, it will again put forth its ex- 
pansive powers. And, as the union shall be per- 
petual, it shall continue in a diffused state, never 
more to sink into a state of torpor and inactivity. 

In our estimation of material objects, and calcu- 
lation upon them, we decide upon the quantity of 
different bodies of equal magnitudes by the specific 
gravity of each. But, in that state where gravity 
shall probably be done away, and be removed from 
matter, our estimate of its quantity must be with- 
out a guide ; because the standard by which we 
measured quantity will be unknown ; and unless 
some new standard shall be attained by us, the spe- 
cific quantity of which our bodies shall be composed 
must continue unknown for ever. 

Under these circumstances, when all gravity shall 
be removed from that matter of which our bodies 
shall be composed : it will be impossible to ascer- 
tain what degrees of solidity they shall contain ; and 



262 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

the solidity being uiknown, the extent of their vola- 
tility n)ust be unknown also. That part, therefore, 
which no;V forms but a minute portion, but contains 
the identity of our bodies, may have, compacted 
within it, a sufficiency of solidity to form all the parts 
of our agile and volatile bodies, which we shall in- 
herit in a future world. The loss of gravity may 
con ribute to establish its activity ; and the impulse 
of the will may supersede the necessity of muscular 
exertion. x\nd the body under these circumstances^ 
may be capable of a transition from place to place, 
with a velosity somewhat analagous to that of light. 

The final result of these reasonings therefore is, 
that though it is highly probable that a multitude of 
particles will unite hereafter with th^it principle, 
which consti.utes the identity of our bodies here ; 
yet there can be no absolute necessity that any new 
particles must be united, or that all, or even the 
majority of those which had been vitally united to 
the body in any given period of its existence, sh ^uld 
again come forth, in the resurrection, to form these 
bodies which we hope to possess hereafter. If these 
reasonings and conclusions be admitted, all those 
objections which are drawn from the changes of our 
bodies, are at once obviated ; and those questions 
which are proposed about the sameness of numeri- 
ca) particles are fully answered, without involvings 
any difficulties of a serious nature. 

The particles, which had occasionally adhered to 
the body, (in admitting this theory) may incorporate 
with various bodies, without interfering with the 
identitv of either ; or interrupting the final comple- 



$0Gt. III.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 263 

tion of our future etherial frames. In this view, we 
plainly discover how corruptibn may put on incor- 
ruption ; how this mortal may put on immortality ; 
and how that which was sown a natural, shall be 
raised a spiritual body ; and also how this spiritual 
body shall edure throughout eternity, without 
involving those difficulties, which on any other 
principles seem connected with the resurrection of 
the dead. 

The local notions, which we have of justice and 
injustice, as they apply to the claims of each and 
every particle, as having a portion in the resurrec- 
tion, cannot be involved in the theory before us. All 
matter is in zV^e'//' unconscious and inert ; and must 
for that reason be alike incapable of plea^^ure or of 
pain. Exaltation and degradation must be wholly 
inapplicable: and remunerative justice must be 
totally discharged from the situation, which the par- 
ticles may finally occupy. 

That vitality, to which alone moral action could 
have any possible relation, and which alone can in- 
volve the moral and remunerative justice of God ; 
must be exclusively confined to this principle of 
identity, and to that immaterial spirit to which it is 
at once united and allied. And, as both shall retain 
their respective energies throughout eternity, the 
divine justice will appear conspicuous in rewarding 
and punishing those individuals, in their spirits and 
in the essential properties of their bodies, both of 
which in unalienable sameness shall continue for 
€ver. And, although multitudes of those atoms, 
which in the present life were connected witU the 



264 IDENTITY AND RESURHECTION [Chftp. VL 

permanent principles of the body, shall be separated, 
and separated for ever ; and, although no additional 
particles should succeed to supply their places ; yet 
as the principle of identity is still the same that it 
ever had been, nothing can be said to be removed 
from it, which was capable of moral action ; or 
which is now capable either of reward or punish- 
ment, because incapable of joy or pain; aitd which 
consequently, cannot involve the justice of God. 

The particles^ which have been separated from 
their former connection, during any part of the pro- 
cess of nature, either in life, or during the repose 
of the grave can feel no interest whatsoever in the 
changes which they have undergone ; or in the fu- 
ture purpose to which they may be applied. To 
*' float in the breeze, or shiver in the grass," to roll 
in the ocean, or to become stationary in the rock, 
must be of equal indifference ; because, removed 
from their union with that principle of vitality with 
which they were once connected, they must be inca- 
pable of all sensation. They can only possess those 
essential properties which are inseparable from the 
substance of matter, to which rewards and punish- 
ments cannot apply. The Divine justice is not 
therefore involved in the question before us ; nor 
is it bound to collect together the numerical parti- 
cles, which, at any given period of existence, were 
united with the principle of identity, which shall be 
preserved for ever, from all mutation and decay. 



-$fe€t. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 12^5 

SECTION IV. 

Probable Arguments, That the Changes through 
which our Bodies have already passed^ are a 
Grounditwrk ofjuture expectations ; and ensure, 
tipon principles of Analogy y the Resurrection of 
the Human Body, 

This portion of matter which constitutes the 
identity of the body, being forsaken by its immate- 
rial partner at the hour of death, and separated from 
those gross materials which were found adhering to 
it in the present life ; must commence at the period 
of its resurrection, a form of life which we cannot 
adequately comprehend. We are, therefore, about 
to enter a region, in which comparative analogy 
must be our only guide. 

That there are in the human soul new faculties, 
which have not yet unfolded themselves, we have 
much reason to believe ; when we turn our thoughts 
to what is past. And, from finding those faculties 
which we have in the present state of our existence, 
exactly suited to the station which God has called 
us to sustain ; we are led to conclude that those 
faculties which shall be unfolded hereafter, will pos- 
sess an appropriate relation to those objects with 
which we shall be conversant ; and be peculiarly 
adapted to those regions which we shall then inha- 
bit. Why then may we not infer from just analogy 
that the same or similar changes will take place in 
its material partner, though the ways and modes in 
which these chc^nges shall be accomplished in both, 

M m 



'^6(i IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

are alike unknown ? In our present state, we dis- 
cover in the soul tho^e faculties which are suitable 
to its present condition ; and from what is unfolded 
we calculate upon what lies concealed. And, from 
those bodily powers which we possess, we presume 
upon those which are rei,erved to put forth their 
vigour, when the process of the grave shall be pass- 
ed away, and time shall conduct us to the regions 
of ett rnity. 

These analogical conclusions are warranted to us 
by our contemplations of what has already taken 
place in man, both in his material and intellectual 
powers. The astonishing changes which all human 
beings undergo, from their first formation in the 
womb, till they reach the zenith of their material 
and intellectual powers, are facts w^hich bid defiance 
to comparative calculations ; they outsoar all our 
conjectures, and even arrest impossibility in its 
infinite distance from us. 

In the womb, we discover nothing higher than a 
organic or vegetative life. But the change of station 
produces a change in condition, which is at once 
astonishing and incomprehensible. Organic, or 
vegetative life immediately subsides, and gives place 
to that which is animal, the instant that an infant 
enters the world ; and respiration, which was per- 
fectly unknown before, becomes now essentially 
necessary to future animal life. These are facts, 
which are self-evident. If then, the change of our 
Station from the womb to the present life, be pro- 
ductive of changes in otir mann r of existence ; — if 
we^ froni organic pr vegetative l(/c, proceed to^. 



S<ict. IVJ OF THE HUMAN BODV. 56f 

that which is animal^ and from animal to that which 
is rational ; why may We not justly infer, when a 
similar or a greater change shall pass upon us at 
death, which will totally alter our manner of exis* 
tertce, that a similar or greater change will take 
place in those bodily powers, as well as mental fa* 
culties which we possess ? 

In our embryo state, our faculties and powers 
were exactly suited to our vegetative situation ; all 
Was dormant, sluggish, inactive, and almost un- 
known. In our present station tho^e faculties 
which had ripened through our infant process, put 
forth their powers ; and are evidently accomm ;da- 
ted to the station which we now occupy, and which 
they were destined to fill. And such, in all proba- 
bility, may be the nature of their constitution, that 
nothing but the process of the womb, the vegetative 
manner of life, and the animal condition through 
which we have passed, could ca 1 forth these powers 
into their present state o{ partially mature existence. 

Every thing, which is produced by God, is the 
result of the most consummate wisdom ; the order 
of nature cannot be inverted, nor can human inge^ 
nuity amend the plan which we behold. The book 
of nature affords us an exposition of tliese truths ; 
but in no branch does infinite wisdom appear with 
more conspicuous lustre, than in the formation of 
man ; and in those progressive steps, through which 
he is obliged to pass, from organic or vegetative ex- 
istence to the maturity of tbe present life^. 



S6^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Yi, 

If our reasoning pqwei s had been bestowed upon 
us, while we were confined within the womb, they 
would evidently ha\e been in that state, bestowed 
in vain. And if that vegetative life, wh.ch we then 
possessed, had been wiihholden, life itself would 
have been impossible, according to all our modes of 
reasoning. In like manner, if vegetative life had 
been communicated to man in his mature state, 
even animation would be an affliction ; and if, in 
this mature state, our reasoning powers had been 
denied, life itself would be little better than an in- 
tolerable burden. Thqs then, the powers which 
God has bestowed, both mental and bodily, are 
exactly fitted to those stations which he has called 
1]S to occupy ; and we are obliged by the force of 
unquestionable evidence, to acquiesce in this con- 
elusion,— That God in all his works has manifested 
perfection, and that he has not made ariy thing in 
Vain, 

The remarks, which have been made in the prer 
ceding paragraph, are fou^nded upon a supposition, 
that such an inversion was possible as that which has 
been stated ; and in the conclusions, which have been 
drawn, we see the fatal consequences vi^hich would 
ensue if that possibility were reduced to fact. But, 
that such events are even possible in all their parts, 
I am far from admitting. 'The progress of those 
gradations, through which we have passed, w^as 
without all doubt necessary, to call our faculties and 
powers from their immature to their present state ; 
and on that account, it formed a necessary step to- 



Sfect IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 26? 

- wards this perfection which the human powers 
have attained. If, thereffre, the changes which I 
have presumed, had taken, place, they must have 
involved absurdities which are inseparable trom the 
possibility which has been presumed. We must, in 
this case, have presumed that maturiti) could have 
taken place in a state of immaturity ; and that im» 
maturity must have existed in a state of maturity s 
the ^l^surdity and contradictor iness of which it i$ 
useless to pursue. It must, then fore, be admitted, 
as an evident conclusion, that the condition in 
which God has placed us, is necessary for the use 
of our present powers ; and that the present pow* 
ers which we possess, are alike necessary to our 
present condition. 

In this view, whether we look to the present 
state, or to that which has preceded it, both are 
confined by boundaries which they cannot pass; 
while they are connected together by ties which are 
indissoluble. 1 he variation in our condition seems 
to establish the boundaries, as well as the neceshity 
of them, which divide the states which we contem- 
plate. The con .inuance of this life fixes the bound- 
aries between our embryo and our future state ; it 
is, therefore, in this region alone that our bodily 
powers can exert themselves. In like manner, our 
state of being in the womb fixed those boundaries 
which divided vegetative from animal life. In each 
of these states, we perceive powers and faculties, 
which are commensurate with our wants ; in which 
we perceive that nothing is either given or with- 



tfo IDENTir? AND RESURRECtrOK [Chap. Vt 

holden, which was necessary to our being ; so that 
neither deficiency nor redundency, can be predica- 
ted of the works of God. 

Thus far we have seen in what is past, analogy 
founded upon fact. Our observations have, how- 
ever, been confined to the embryo and the present 
state of man. In these we have seen those faculties 
and powers unfold themselves, which were peculiar 
to the stations which we have contemplated ; and 
in which progression, became necessary to ripen to 
maturity the various powers which we have beheld. 
We have seen the changes in station which we have 
already undergone, from an embryo to a mature 
state ; and we have seen those changes in our co/z- 
ditioii, which have been associated with the states 
of being through which we have passed. A 
recurrence, therefore, to w^hat has passed, will be- 
come a groundwork of our analogical reasoning, 
and give us confidence in those inquiries where pro- 
bability cannot be supported by fact. 

A change in our situation of being, can hardly be 
conceived, without our connecting with it, aproporr 
tionable change in the condition of that being which 
is presumed. If, therefore, the changes which we 
have already discovered in our condition of being, 
resulting from our alteration in mode of existence, 
have been so great, what have we not to contemplate, 
when such changes shall take place upon us, as we 
have reason to expect, when mortality shall be swal- 
lowed up in immortal life? 

Tl)^ changes through which we have passed. 



^ect. lY.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 271 

have called into action all pur reasoning powers 
which we possess; powers, which nothing but the 
various process through which we have moved could 
ripen ; and which, were it not for these changes, 
must have lain dormant and inactive for ever. In 
like manner, the analogy is equally good, when we 
apply it to our future being. When that change, 
which death shall make upon us, shall take place ; we 
are taught to expect from what is past, that new pow- 
ers and faculties will ripen into birth, and put forth 
that vigour which shall flourish through eternity. 

To behold human nature in its embryo state, and 
to form calculations from the evidences which then 
appear, upon the future station and condition which 
the embryo shall sustain and exhibit, must exceed 
the boldest conjectuie of man. In the original 
state of things, the thought would have been daring, 
that should have presumed to conceive any state more 
excellent than that which was perceived ; and yet 
we have on these cases ocular demonstration, that 
the boldest conjecture is outdone by fact. But in 
the subject of the resurrection which we contem- 
plate, we have before us those previous changes 
which we have undergone ; and these become a per- 
manent groundwork of our future calculations. 
We may, therefore, rationally presume, that we 
view but a minute part of those faculties which 
shall be unfolded hereafter ; and that we can form 
only inadequate calculations on that mode of being 
which God has reserved for our bodies and souls, 
\Vhen they shall be re-united beyond the grave. 



37t IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

Wc have already seen, that our separation from 
the womb has caled reascn into action, and given 
to our bodies animal life. Why then, may not that 
change, which death shall occasion, awaken new 
faculties and powers, as superior to those which w6 
no. I possess, as those which we possess ^re to those 
which are possessed by an embryo in the womb ? 

From organic or vegetative life, we have seen ani- 
mal life commence, through a change which has al- 
ready taken place. And, why may we not infet 
that when a similar or superior change shall take 
place by death, that the animal life shall be suc- 
ceeded by that which is spiritual ; though we were 
to know no more at present of the way and manner 
of that spiritual life, than an embryo in the womb 
can know of this mode of life which we now enjoy ? 

From viitual existence, and potential energy, 
we have seen formal being to result, through the pro- 
cess of an astonishing change. Why then may not 
another change, which shall be equally astonishing, 
transform formal being into perpetual existence? 

From matter, apparently lifeless and inert, we 
have seen energies and powers of loco-motion arise. 
And why, from existent energies and loco-motion, 
may not the powers of contraction and expansion 
step foith into existence ? — Why, from the energies 
and loco- motion which our bodies now^ possess, 
may not the power of transformation take place ? 
Why may not the body, which shall be spiritual, be 



Sect. IV.] 1 OF THE HUMAN BODY. 573 

capable of transporting itself with inconceivable 
velocity, through that endless variety of regions, 
which shall be for ever teeming with beauties, which 
shall be forever new ? 

We have seen two distant natures so united, that 
their interests are become mutual, and in many 
cases their dependencies reciprocal, effected by ties 
which are invisible ; it cannot, therefore, be unrea- 
sonable to infer that the body, though material, may- 
be capable of a re-union with its long lost partner, 
through ties which even eternity shall not be able 
to dissolve. 

We have seen in the present life this union sub- 
sist occasionally through one hundred years ; 
though the body has been encircled with disasters, 
and exposed to the action of the elements, and 
though gravitation has been continually acting upon 
its dissoluble parts. Why then may we not con- 
clude, when both soul and body shall be removed 
from the occasions of their separation, that the same 
ties may unite them together, through a period of 
duration in which the mind is lost in the immensity 
of members, when the measurements of time shall 
be no more ? 

Through a change, which has taken place, we 
have seen inertness put on activity and vigour^ 
though the substance is purely material. Why then 
may we not reasonably conclude, that the same sub- 
stance through another change, may put on immor- 
tality and eternal life ? 

Nn 



274> IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

We have seen five distinct senses spring forth, ia 
a substance which was originally destitute of any, 
through a change which has passed upon its mode 
of existence; and from this circumstance we have 
every reason to suppose that a similar change will 
produce other senses, as new in their natures, and 
as distinct from one another. And, if five new 
senses could be communicated to a portion of mat- 
tci, which was originally destitute of them ; why 
may we not expect more senses from those bodies 
which now possess them, when another change shall 
lake place ? And why may we not expect, that those 
senses which we hope to possess, shall be infinitely 
superior in point of nature, and far exceeding in 
point of energy and acuteness, the most exahed 
which we have yet beheld ? We have reason to 
expect that these effects will be produced, by 
changes which will be more surprising than any 
which we have undergone. 

We have seen organs of the most astonishing 
constructions, arise from a chaotic mass of unor- 
ganized materials, and become the inlets of such 
knowledge, as nothing but the ceitainty of fact 
could induce us to believe. And, if unorganized 
matter has been capable of becoming organized 
and these organs of becoming the inlets of know- 
ledge, the most astonishing and vast ;—(f produc- 
ing senses so distinct, and yet so uniform ;~ so sim- 
ple, and yet so comprehensive ; — capable of scru- 
tinizing an atom, or of grasping a world ;r— of coa- 



Sect. IV.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 2r3 

templating the beauties of both, or of analizing the 
constituent parts of either ; — if, I say, such senses 
as we thus possess, have been produced in our bo- 
dies, and have come forward to this state of perfec- 
tion which we discover, and that through the me- 
dium of those changes, which we have seen the 
body already undergo ? Why may not new organs 
arise from another change, new modifications take 
place in the arrangements of the parts, and new 
senses develope themselves, as well as new modes 
of communicating and acquiring knowledge, beam 
forth in all their lustre, and discover to us such 
fountains of intelligence, as may at once astonish us, 
and absorb our powers of intellect in scenes of 
which we can at present, have no kind of concep- 
tion ? And, as our birth is but one link in the chain 
of our existence, and comparative perfection has re- 
sulted from it, we may justly infer, that genuine 
perfection cannot be attained, until all those changes 
which are necessary thereto shall be undergone. 
And, therefore, death, with all its gloomy horrors, 
must form a necessary part in the important pro- 
cess ; and conduce to the ripening of our faculties, 
and to the preparation of our bodies, at least those 
essential parts of them in which their identity con- 
sists, for their future habitations in the regions of 
immortality. 

Through the changes which our bodies have 
passed, we have seen articulation to arise from the 
motion of matter ; and by this means our organs 



276 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

have been made subservient to the communication 
of our thoughts. The same medium, when refined 
by death, and the subsequent process of the grave, 
may be rendered, through the tenuity of their 
nature, more exquisitely applicable to the same 
office, capable of communicating more sublime 
intelligence. 

The body, hereafter, may be a necessary vehicle 
of the spirit, through the organs of which it may 
display its communications. By the loss of its gross 
materials, it may be softened with flexibilit\ , and 
rendered suitable to the station which it shdll here- 
after occupy, without retarding the movements of 
the soul, or obstructing its various operations. It 
may fill the double station of medium and shield, 
it may serve the office of vehicle, through which 
communications will be made, while it shall temper 
the rays of (what would be otherwise) unsufFerable 
glory. Thus its flexibility will prevent all ob- 
structions to the spirit y and the materiality of its 
nature, will make it capable of subserving those 
purposes which are wanting to be supplied. 

We here behold our organs of speech exactly 
suited to the station which we hold in existence, 
and to the region which we inhabit. And this suit- 
ableness has been directed by infinite goodness, 
to accompany our changes of existence ; to accom- 
modate our wants in this temporary abode. From 
these circumstances, we are therefore justified in 
inferring, that when the change of death shall pass 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 277 

upon us, another important alteration will take place 
in our organical departments, by which they shall 
be prepared for those regions which they shall inherit 
for ever. Through this process, new faculties will, 
without all doubt, make their appearance, which are 
now in an embryo state ; just as those faculties did 
which we now possess, and which before our birth, 
were in a similar embryo state. In those changes 
which we expect to undergo, many of our present 
organs shall be done away ; many new ones shall ap- 
pear; many shall undergo anew modification, and 
supply present defects ; so that the whole shall form 
the most important epoch in human existence ; and 
thus the revolution of our bodily powers, which shall 
commence in death, shall move onward in pr igres- 
sion through the grave, and be finally consummated 
in the resurrection of the dead. 

Under all those various considerations, from 
whence I have endeavoured to infer the resurrec- 
tion of the body, the changes through which it 
must pass, and the mode of being which it shall sus- 
tain hereafter, our expectations are not equal to the 
certainties which we possess, and fr -m which the 
inferences have been made. The distance between an 
embryo s^ate and the present life, is not so great as 
that which lies between this life and the next ; and 
yet we have seen greater changes result from that, 
than any which we expect from this. And if changes 
less extensive in station, have produced changes 
7nore extensive in condition ; the inferences which 
we have made are perfectly justifiable upon princi- 
ples of analogical reasoning ; and when the greatest 



278 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [ChAp. VI. 

of all possible changes shall take place, we may 
expect with justice effects of the last importance 
to follow. 

Tht distance from death to another life is much 
greater than from an embryo Uate to the present 
condition of man : but as the changes which we 
expect to result from the former are not so great 
in proportion, as those which we have already seen 
resulting from the latter ; our expectations of a re- 
surrection and of the consequent state of the body, 
are founded upon the certainty of what has already 
taken place in man. On this point let it be finally 
observed, that when we view man in an embryo 
state, abstracted from every other consideration, 
we can perceive nothing to justify our expectations 
that he will be possessed of those senses which af- 
terwards develope themselves ; but, when we view 
him in his present state, we reason from what has 
already taken place ; we take his acquirements as 
the data of our future speculations, and from thence 
infer those astonishing perfections and changes 
which are reserved for a future life. Hence we may 
with safety conclude, from diese branches of analo- 
gical reasoning, that we have before us all the evi- 
dence which can be expected from this quarter. The 
whole seems to terminate in moral certainty, and to 
produce in the reflecting mind, a full conviction of 
the fact which we intend to establish. 

But, there are other branches which it may not 
be improper to introduce ; because they will tend 
to illuminate the shades with which we are encir- 
cled. The mediums, through which our present 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 279 

mode of life is preserved, are peculiarly adapted to 
our present condition of life. But these mediums 
must be exclusively confined to our present abode. 
Before it took place, and after it bhall be done away, 
the medmms of preservation to which I allude can 
have no suitable application. 

We have seen a state of existence, in which teeth 
were not in being in the early stages of infancy : 
because they were not necessary to that state. The 
stomach and the intestines existed only in embryo, 
as preparatory to the present state ; and though nu- 
trition and existence are inseparably connected in 
the present, we may easily learn from this circum- 
stance that the connection is only of a local nature. 
Why then may we not rationally conclude, though 
all these instruments of nutrition shalF be done 
away, that existence shall continu^'n a future state 
of being, in which all future occasions for them will 
be removed ; and in which they must be either use- 
less or unknown P Analogy will justify this conclu- 
sion ; though we cannot comprehend how existence 
can be possible without respiration, and without 
nutritive aid. 

A material being that can continue to exist with- 
out nutrition, must exist in ways and modes totally 
different from those with which we are acquainted. 
And the supposition that our bodies can survive in 
this manner, necessarily implies that they must have 
undergone such surprising changes as we have al- 
ready hinted, but which we have never actually 
known. The difference between the condition of 
^n embryo in the womb and that of an adult in the 



380 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

enjoyment of life, can bear but a faint resemblance 
to he distance between the constitution of an adult, 
and the constitution of his body beyond the grave. 
. Jn all the modes of animal existence, with which 
we are acquainted, nutrition seemb to be a necessary- 
adjunct of life ; and it will baffle our deepest re- 
searches to contrive a mode, through which life 
may be preserved without it. But, this can amount 
to no argument against the fact. It will be produ- 
ced, in all probab lity, bv ways the most astonish- 
ing, and yet the most simple, and burst upon c>ur 
amazed understandings, in ways which can only be 
comprehended by faculties which we do not at pre- 
sent possess, and of which we cannot have a distant 
apprehension. 

As the faculties which we now have, are insuffi- 
cient to comprehend that simple mode of existence, 
which God has reserved foi our bodies hereafter; 
death itself, whi h we view as the greatest evil, may- 
be necessary, not only to produce that mode of life, 
but also to mature those organs by which alone the 
knowledge of the fact can reach our ip.tellectual 
powers. The mode of such a state of being, and 
the faculties by which alone it can be apprehended, 
are therefore, in all probability, as remote from our 
present state and our present faculties, as these are 
from the m .de of life, and the comprehension of an 
embryo in the v\omb. 

In all cases the existence of the percipient faculty- 
is necessary to the comprehension of the objects 
w hich are adapted to it ; we may therefore justly in- 
fer, that all our attempts to comprehend those real- 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 281 

ities which lie beyond the grave, must be vague and 
unsatisfactory; until the realities themselves shall 
burst upon us, with an evidence (like that of light or 
sound) which is irresistible. 

We may, however, have a sufficiency of evidence 
to ascertain the fact; though the way in which it 
shall be accomplished should remain unknown* 
This is no more than what we experience in the pre- 
sent life. We know the existence of many facts, 
though the manner in which they exist is hidden 
from our researches* In like manner, we may be 
certified of the resurrection of our bodies from the 
grave ; though the way in which it shall be accom- 
plished remain perfectly concealed. 

The evidences of these two ideas are perfectly 
distinct in their natures. The former we gather 
from strong intimations, and express declarations 
given us by God ; but the latter we can only learn 
from an intimate acquaintance with causes and ef- 
fects ; — ^the influence and secret operation of active 
and passive energies, which we can but imperfectly 
trace in those things which are natural, and with 
which we are encircled on every side. Of the for- 
mw of these ideas we have continual proof ; but of 
the latter we rarely obtain any satisfactory informa- 
tion. 

The probability of a resurrection is much greater 
than the probability of its not taking place ; and it 
is our duty to close with that side " where one grain 
would turn the scale." Even they with whom it is 
thought a thing incredible^ that God shoidd raise 
the dead, can only found their assertions on the de.- 

Rr 



282 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

lusive appearance of the body in a state of death, 
and their own abiUty to comprehend the fact. The 
speculations, into which I have entered, have already 
anticipated the arguments which might be drawn 
from these sources ; facts of a more unpropitious 
appearance have teemed with favourable realities, 
and presented us with life and energy from a chaotic 
mass. A subject of this nature must always be 
encumbered with difficulties ; to devest it of them is 
totally impossible ; it is therefore an unalterable dic- 
tate of reason, in such cases, to close with that side 
where fewest difficulties are. 

In this gloomy region of probable conjecture, wc 
cannot hope for evidence of a much brighter nature 
than that which God has affiDrded us. The twilight 
of our situation affiDrds nothing totally devested of 
shadows ; and we violate the principles of order, 
whenever we aim at evidence which is foreign to 
our state. 

An intimate acquaintance with the internal con- 
stitution of substances, whether simple, modified, or 
organized ; is what we cannot hope to attain in the 
present life. It is for us to know the facts, with 
which we are encircled, and the effects wliich result 
from any peculiar organization; but an intimate 
acquaintance with the causes which combine to pro- 
duce these effects, together with the internal consti- 
tution of organized beings, amounts to a mode of 
knowledge which may be possessed by higher orders 
of intelligent beings, with as much precision as \»c 
now know the facts themselves, and those effects 
which result from them. And, it is not improbable 



Sect, v.] [OF THE HUMAN BODY. 283 

that the period will arrive, when human nature, after 
having passed through the necessary preparations, will 
be capable of comprehending with equal precision, 
those astonishing events which we now attempt with 
so much difficulty to explore. 



SECT. V. 

Arguments to prove that Gravitation must he 
inapplicable to our future Bodies in another 
World ; and that the Loss of Gravitation will 
make a considerable Distinction between these 
Bodies which we now have^ and those which shall 
be hereafter. 

That gravitation, whatever its nature may be, is 
inseparable from all portions of matter through 
the whole empire of nature, with which we are ac- 
quainted, it would be foolish to prove, and useless 
to deny. It is from this circumstance, that gravi- 
tation has been included by some, among the essen- 
tial properties of matter. Our local observations 
give sanction to the supposition, and in those cases 
which submit themselves to the evidences of our 
senses, it is demonstrated by fact. But whether 
gravitation is really inseparable from material sub- 
stances, or whether it does not depend upon the 
local circumstances of time and place ; are ques- 
tions of considerable import, which will issue in 
consequences totally distinct from one another. 

In our present abode, the detached particles of 



284 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vt 

matter gravitate towards the centre of the earth; 
and the earth with its appendages gravitates to- 
wards the sun. By the same mode of reasoning, we 
have satisfactory evidence, that all the orbs which 
compose the solar system feel a proportional im- 
pression : even if we take into the account the ec- 
centricities of the comets, which seem to be the most 
erratic of all the heavenly bodies with which we are 
acquainted. 

But, though the various bodies of the solar sys- 
tem thus gravitate towards their common centre: 
it will not follow that the whole system, when taken 
in an aggregate point of view, gravitates towards 
any other system in the universe. It will indeed 
admit of much probable evidence, that no such gra- 
vitation either does or can exist. For, if gravita- 
tion can exist in the solar system, towards any other 
system whatever, it will be impossible to assign 
any satisfactory reason why the branches of diiferent 
systems continue apart from one another ; and to 
say what has prevented that contact which necessa- 
rily results from the action of gravitating bodies. 

That the worlds, which God has fixed in the im- 
mensity of space, are infinite in their extent, I be- 
lieve no man will affirm ; the exterior systems can 
therefore have nothing to prevent them falling im- 
mediately upon those w^hich are most contiguous. 
The second, after having overcome the first, must 
act in the same manner towards its neighbouring 
system, till that also sinks in ruin ; and thus de- 
gtruction must press upon destruction, till those 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 285 

worlds which now adhere to their respective systems, 
are reduced to a state of eonfusion, and blended 
together in one chaotic mass. 

The existence of the various systems with which 
we are surrounded, and of which we make a part, 
proves that no such effects have taken place ; and 
hence we may rationally presume that no such ex- 
tent ©f gravitation does exist. And, since the gene- 
ral convulsion of the universe would inevitably en- 
sue, if such an operative power were to pervade 
the great inane ; the order which subsists throughout 
the universe indubitably proves, that no such pro- 
perty as gravitation can diffuse its influence through 
universal nature, nor probably reach beyond the 
different systems to which its influence is confined. 

From these principles, it is fairly to be inferred, 
that although gravitation is so closely interwoven 
with the whole system of matter, in all the forms 
into which it has been modified, as to be naturally 
inseparable from its minutest parts, yet, that it is 
confined in its operative influence. And that, as it 
is local and circumscribed in its action, it cannot, in 
the strictest and most philosophical sense of the word, 
be an essential property of matter. 

There are many instances with which we are ac- 
quainted, in which gravitation may be lessened in 
its influence, suspended in its power, and partially 
destroyed; while the matter itself in which it in- 
heres, retains all its essential properties, and under- 
goes no real change. Gravitation, therefore, can only 
be an affection of matter, existing only in relation 
to time and situation ; but by no means an essential 



SSS IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VT. 

property of that substance, in which .it is presumed 
to inhere. If, therefore, the influence of gravitation 
be not infinite, which I presume will be admitted ; 
it follows, that if God were so pleased, he may 
place a portion of matter in some portion of the re- 
gions of space, in which it shall be perfectly removed 
from the influence of gravitation, and from that of 
those external impulses which now act upon it with 
so much energy and force. 
In those regions, which our future bodies are des- 
tined to inhabit, the force of gravitation may so far 
be forbidden to act upon them, either through pure 
distance or the partiality of their nature ; that the 
impulse of the will, finding nothing to obstruct its 
mandates, may act with a degree of efficacy to which 
we are strangers, and be productive of those effects 
which at present can only result from muscular ex- 
ertion. 

That all spiritual substances must be placed be- 
yond the influence of gravitation, through the nature 
of their existence, will hardly admit of any doubt ; 
because gravitation, from its very nature, seems only 
applicable to those which are material. And, with- 
out adverting to the question, whether those ethe- 
rial vehicles, through which they communicate 
their ideas to one another, be composed of some- 
thing which is analogous to matter or not ; it seems 
an unquestionable point, that our conceptions of 
their being totally destitute of gravitation, form a 
striking circumstance in our notions of their spiri- 
tuality- While, on the contrary, those substances 
which are visible to our senses, having a certain de- 



5ect. v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 287 

gree of specijic gravity, incorporated in their na- 
tures, mark out for us a clear distinction between 
themselves and those substances which we denomi- 
iiate spiritual. 

The human body, having this power of gravita- 
tion in its present state, in common with all sublu- 
nary beings and things ; may, with much propriety 
be said to be naturaly in opposition to those ethe- 
rial vehicles, which from their being destitute of 
gravitation, are denominated spiritual. But, the 
changes which these material bodies shall undergo 
at death, will probably separate them from the in- 
fluence of this principle hereafter. And, their being 
devested of this quality, which we have already sup- 
posed, is not an essential property of matter ; will 
give to them that mode of being, at which aS*^. Paul 
hints, when he tells us, there is a spiritual hody» 
For, when all gravitating tendencies shall be with- 
drawn from that portion of matter, which shall con- 
stitute our bodies hereafter ; they must assimiltite in 
nature with those spiritual substances, on which the 
affection of gravity had never been impressed. By 
this assimilation of nature to spiritual substances, and 
this loss of one of those present essential qualities 
by which we distinguish matter from spirit, and one 
portion of matter from another ; we arrive at a solu- 
tion of that complex assertion which St. Paul has 
made — There is a natural body and there is a spiritu- 
al body, * 

The matter, of which our future bodies shall be 
composed, will, without all doubt, continue to retain 
all those propertieij which are in reality essential tQ 



2$8 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

its nature ; and will lose nothing in point of nature, 
but this ideal property and those sensible qualities, 
which local existence had incorporated with its be- 
ing in the present state. To announce the nature 
of our bodies, thus circumstanced, and thus situated 
in a future state, perhaps no expression could be 
found more appropriate within the compass of lan- 
guage, than that which St. Paul had happily select- 
ed, when he called the companion of our soul, a 
spiritual body. We have, therefore, every reason 
to expect that those bodies which we shall possess 
hereafter, will partake in common with all other 
matter, the essential properties of that substance ; 
while they will be devested of that ponderosity 
W^hich must inevitably retard motion, and which as- 
sociate with our bodies in all the functions of the 
present life. 

What the physical nature of gravitation is, we do 
not with precision know ; but of this we are fully 
assured, that it is an inherent property of matter, 
through which all material bodies are disposed to 
approach each other, and their respective centres. 

In the present state of things, the centre of gravi- 
tation to us, is the centre of the globe which we in- 
habit ; but certain it is, that this centre of gravita- 
tion can continue no longer than the globe itself re- 
mains in existence. As, therefore, gravitation can 
only have a relative existence ; the destruction of 
the globe must prove the destruction of gravitation, 
or at least cause it to adhere to another centre, of 
which we can form but inadequate conceptions. 

That this world, and all the solar system had a 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 289 

beginning, will not admit of any doubt ; and that it 
will finally be destroyed by fire, is a fact, of which 
we are fully assured by the unerring word of God. 
When, therefore, that awful period shall arrive, 
when the earth shall be encircled with fire, when the 
sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light ; our centre of gravitation must ne- 
cessarily be destroyed. The disordered particles 
of matter, which, shall survive this general wreck of 
nature, being then bereft of that common centre, to 
which they had been accustomed to adhere, must in- 
stantly lose their gravitating power, and be devested 
of all external impulse by an inevitable consequence. 
And, therefore, as all matter must in itself be totally 
indifferent to motion and rest, whether we con- 
sider it as modified into a human body, or as as- 
suming any other form ; by being thus disencum- 
bered from impediments, it must act under the im- 
mediate impulse of the first power which commu- 
nicates its force. Under these circumstances, the 
impulse of the will, without doubt, Avill be sufficient 
to produce every effect which we can possibly as- 
cribe to our future bodies, when they shall be raised 
in a state of incorruption, and when death, the last 
enemy of human nature, shall be for ever destroyed. 
We are furnished in the present life with proofs 
of the most indubitable nature, that the impulses of 
our wills are constantly modifying our muscular ac- 
tions. But, by what secret energy these effects are 
wrought which we constantly discover, we know 
not ; and perhaps shall never be able to compre- 

Ss 



290 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VJ. 

hend. We cannot therefore, reasonably expect to 
know, in our present state of existence, how 
our spirits shall operate with redoubled energy and 
vigour upon those refined bodies which we hope to 
have hereafter ; when they shall be removed from 
those impediments which are now inseparable from 
our existence. That the fact itself is possible, we 
are fully assured from the evidence which we have 
of similar actions in the present life. This evidence 
must silence all objections, which we might be in- 
clined to raise against our future expectations and 
hopes from our inability' to comprehend tlie facts 
which are now in existence, and which, we are sa- 
tisfied, will then take place. The increase of the 
operation of spirit upon matter, it is reasonable to 
expect, will be great in proportion to the energy of 
the mover ; and this energy will increase in pro- 
portion to the removal of those impediments, which 
now retard the action of the soul. 

But, however powerful in its operation upbn the 
body, the soul may be in our present state ; we well 
know, that the power of gravitation, residing in the 
matter of which our bodies are composed, is too 
strong to be totally overcome. By the impulse of 
my will, I can move either my hand or tongue ; but 
it is not in my power, by any exertion which I can 
make to take my body from tlie earth, and to sus- 
pend it in the air ; much less is it in my power to 
take my flight into another region, or to move from 
sphere to sphere, to con\'erse with beings, which 
are totally unknoAvn. 
Indeed, every action which we perform, is a par- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 291 

tial conquest of gravitation. This plainly proves, 
that there resides within us an innate power, which 
must be distinct in its nature from that gravitation, 
which it partially subdues. And, therefore, when 
gravitation shall be totally separated from that 
matter, of which our future bodies shall be compo- 
sed, which must be when the general conflagration 
shall consume the world, (and perhaps the whole 
solar system in one devouring blaze) while the mat- 
ter itself will preserve its existence entire in all its 
essential parts and properties ; then this innate power 
will be free to operate without control, because all 
obstacles shall be totally done away. 

When', therefore, those obstacles which now re- 
tard the power of our active energies shall be with- 
drawn, when all our energies shall acquire new vi- 
gour, we are at a loss to calculate upon those sur- 
prising effects which must ensue. We are called, 
in this view, to move in a new sphere of action. It 
baffles all our calculations, and leaves the mind to 
operate upon the evidence of probability ; which 
evidence becomes rational from the removal of ob- 
stacles, and from the visible effects which analogical ' 
reasoning now supplies. 

The impulses, which our future bodies will re- 
ceive from the actions of our spirits, will probably 
be sufficient to transport them through any dis- 
tances of space with inconceivable celerity ; and to 
lead them in conjunction with themselves, to the 
full gratification of all those desires, which can in- 
herit heaven. In our present state, the cause of 



292 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

motion mast reside within us. Without this, nei- 
ther ^ ice nor virture can' have any existence ; be- 
cause they necessarily imply the power of begin- 
ning motion. And it is more than probable, that 
this cause, which is now the origin of motion, is 
lodged within those parts of our bodies, which are 
necessary to their identity ; which parts will remain 
incorruptible in their torpid state, and be our com- 
panions in eternity. 

In our present situation, the power of gravitation 
is not all that our spirits have to combat. The de- 
ranged state of the whole material system ; the ob- 
structed paths of organization ; the pressure of 
the atmosphere ; the unwieldy masses of flesh and 
blood; together wdth the impediments which we 
sustain from a multiplicity of causes ; all, no doubt, 
conspire to debase our nature ; and to place us in 
perfections, to which nothing but death can re- 
lease us, and to place us at a distance from those 
perfections, to which nothing but a resurrection can 
possibly restore us. We, therefore, now see only as 
through a glass darkly, but hereafter, the righteous 
shall know even as they are known ; and feel their 
enjoyment of felicity, which can only be acquired in 
an eternal state. 

The astonishing changes, which these circum- 
stances must make in the relative situation of our 
bodies, together w^ith the alterations which must 
follow from the changes in our condition of being, 
as well as in the new modifications which our bo- 
dies shall undergo ; must be capable of eftecting 



Sect. V.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 293 

almost every change, except that of altering the es- 
sential properties of human nature. And, even 
these essential properties which now belong to our 
bodies will be so far refined by the changes which 
shall pass upon them, that matter shall approxi- 
mate towards spirit as nearly as possible, without 
losing its essence, or becoming what it is impossible 
that it can be. 

But, were we even to admit the facts for which I 
contend, as well as the arguments which have been, 
and which will be adduced : it will be folly to 
deny that there are difficulties still remaining, which 
it is impossible to solve. Yet difficulties can no 
more prove an hypothesis erroneous, than objec- 
tions against a fact can falsify its nature. We know 
not, I am ready to admit, how matter can exist ab- 
stracted from all gravitation ; but we ought to re- 
collect, that we are equally at a loss to know 
how matter can exist with it. One is no more 
difficult to comprehend than the other ; the fact is, 
that we can comprehend neither. That matter 
does exist with it, is self-evident ; and that it may 
exist when gravitation shall be done away, if God 
shall be so pleased, will admit of no doubt whatever 
in a reflecting mind. 

In the present state of human nature, God 
has pleased to make our subsistence to depend 
upon food and air ; but beyond the grave, we have 
no reason whatever to believe, that either will be 
necessary to our being. It is true, that we cannot 
conceive, how our future bodies will be able to 



294 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

subsist without these external supplies ; but it is 
equally true, that we know not how they can pos- 
sibly subsist with them. No reasonable doubt can. 
be entertained, that God might have established our 
constitutions otherwise, had he been so pleased; 
and have rendered food and respiration alike unne- 
cessary to the support of our lives. It is true, we 
should in that case have been different from what 
we are; we should then have been, what in all 
probability we shall be hereafter, and what we shall 
continue for ever. 

But, though God has thus constituted our na- 
tures ; he has not included these appendages of ex- 
istence in existence itself. They are circumstances, 
which the author of our being might have dispensed 
with, had he been so pleased ; though, perhaps they 
are essentially necessary to our present state, when 
we view it in all its circumstances. And hence we 
may reasonably conclude, that when the present 
modification shall be unhinged, and all nature shall 
undergo a change ; then those appendages of being 
which are now necessary to the preservation of life, 
shall also be for ever done away ; since they can 
exist no longer than that mode of being does, to 
which they are now so essentially necessary, and 
beyond which their uses can no longer survive- 
When, therefore, that era shall arrive, in which 
neither food nor breath shall be any longer necessary 
to the existence of man, we must behold human 
nature undergoing such a change as will admit no 
parallel ; and which can be equalled by nothing but 
itself. ^ 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 295 

The same observations which have already been 
made, on the loss of gravitation, and on the possi- 
bility of subsisting hereafter without the assistance 
of food and breath ; may also be , made on the in- 
ternal changes w^hich our bodies must undergo. 
The uses of food and air being dispensed with, the 
lungs and intestines must become unnecessary; 
though, it must be acknowledged, that we have no 
clear conception how we can subsist without them. 
But here, the same observations will occur. Nei- 
ther can we conceive how our bodies can subsist 
with them. Perpetuity of existence is no more in- 
cluded in the admission of intestines and lungs, than 
it is in the exclusion of them ; and there is really 
nothing less miraculous in the one case than in the 
other. These mediums and appendages of life can 
fill no other stations than those of vehicles. And 
the same power which acted through their instru- 
mentality, can act without their aid. The King of 
eternity who now deals out life unto us by particles, 
and makes use of these mediums, through which he 
communicates it, will probably infuse into the sys- 
tem of animated matter a species of vigour, which 
shall be inexhaustible, and which therefore shall 
supply the body for ever. 

How animated matter, though united to an im- 
material spirit, can live, either with or without 
food ; — how our bodies can live, either with or with- 
out breath ;--Tt^2VA or without Xht lungs and intes- 
tines, and be for ever exempted from putrefaction ; 
is impossible for us to know. Neither can we pe- 
remptorily decide how we shall be able to recognize 



296 IDENTITY AND RKSURIRKCTION [Chap. VI. 

our departed friends in another life, after such 
changes have passed upon us as will destroy the in- 
testines and abolish sexual distinctions. Some line- 
aments will undoubtedly be preserved, amidst the 
general change, by which forgotten friendships will 
be revived ; and these will probably be through the 
distention of those radical principles which consti- 
tute our identity now, and which will constitute the 
identity of our bodies hereafter. But the exact way 
in which this shall be accomplished, when our bodies 
shall be fashioned like unto the glorious body of 
Jesus Christ, according to the mighty workingy 
whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself^ 
are questions which we cannot answer on this side of 
an eternal state. 

But, these questions contain in them no other dif- 
ficulties, than w^ould have been contained in the 
most simple facts which occur in the present life ; 
had they been proposed to intelligent beings like 
ourselves, before creation actually took place. If 
a declaration had been made, prior to creation, 
among the inhabitants of heaven, that God was 
about to call into existence a race of beings, whose 
subsistence was to be made dependent upon their 
respiration of an ambient fluid, of which they could 
have formed no conception ; and that they were to 
draw nutrition from a species of matter, which to 
them ^vas alike unknown, in order to preserve that 
life ^vhich God was about to impart; we cannot 
doubt but that their reasoning powers would have 
been exercised in a manner not unlike that in 
which our own are, on the present occasion. Like 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 297 

Nicodemus and ourselves, they might have in- 
quired, How can tliese things be ? they might have 
credited the declaration, without having any know- 
ledge of the means whereby the fact was to be re- 
alized. But, whether they could have formed any 
probable conception of the fact, or whether they 
must have concluded that such an event would be 
repugnant to the principles of all analogy ; of this 
we are fully assured, that the event has taken place. 
And we have no more reason to doubt of the resur- 
rection hereafter, than they would have had to 
doubt of creation, before the great event actually 
took place. 

Indeed scepticism, on their part, would admit of 
an apology, while on ours, it will merit nothing but 
reproof. Between their case and ours, there is 
this difference ; They had to contemplate a new 
modification of existence, which we now actually 
possess ; and we have only to contemplate a change 
in it, which will take place hereafter ; while we 
have before us a variety of changes, which are really 
more surprising in their consequences, because they 
are more complex in their nature, than those are 
which we look for beyond the grave. They had to 
form conceptions of existence itself, as well as the 
modification of it, where there was neither existence 
nor modification of it ; while we have only to con- 
ceive a continuance of that existence, which already 
is. Of our present manner of existence they could 
have had no conception, not even by analogy ; 
while we, bv forming to ourselves some distant con- 

Tt 



298 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

t^eptions of the existence of angelic natures, behold 
our future state already given ; and the only ques- 
tion that can remain is, How far we have any right 
to expect possession of it ? they had to contem- 
plate powers and faculties, as well as the mode of 
being which did not then exist ; but we have only to 
contemplate a change of condition, and a change in 
our mode of being ; a mode of being which is al- 
ready possessed in a considerable part by those 
higher orders of intelligent beings, on whose nature 
God has already stamped the indelible signature of 
immortality, and from whom the analogy is now 
drawn. Under these circumstances, whether we 
or they have the greatest difficulties to encounter, 
requires not much ingenuity to decide. The con- 
clusion from the preceding comparisons is, tlierefore, 
fair, that angelic natures must have had more ob- 
stacles to stagger their belief in creation, than we 
have now to surmount, in believing the resurrection 
of the body from the grave. 

Were it now proposed to us for our belief, that 
God was about to create another race of intelligent 
beings, as remote from men and angels as they are 
from one another ; and as remote from all other or- 
ders of animal and intellectual life ; we should feel, 
I presume, considerable reluctance in giving it our 
assent. We might credit the declaration upon the 
score of authority, yet, the event proposed would 
make little impression. But, in crediting the re- 
surrection, the difficulties are not so great. Con- 
descension has marked the footsteps of God to- 



Sect, v.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 29^ 

ward us, in all his dealings with us ; he knoweth 
our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust. 

On the great subject before us, we have an ex- 
press declaration from God, that he will raise the 
^ead. We have many strong intimations from na- 
ture, which guarantee the declaration, and corrobo- 
rate the truth. The only objection which can be 
advanced is, that we cannot comprehend the fact. 

But this objection must vanish into empty air. 
The power by which the great event is to be ac- 
complished, is presumed to be omnipotent; and 
tliis can accomplish all things which do not involve 
contradiction; and with this, the doctrine of the 
resurrection cannot be charged. The mode of be- 
ing which we expect to attain is already in exist- 
ence ; and the changes through which we must 
move, in order to the attainment of that state, are 
not considerably greater than those w^hich we have 
already passed. The production of grain aiFords 
us an emblem of the process ; and the torpor, into 
which many animal substances sink, and from 
which they again revive, and the marvellous changes 
which many of them undergo, are convincing prooft 
that nature is progressive ; and that she delights in 
revolutions through all her works. 

In the movements of vegetable substances, the 
action is quick ; and we survey the speedy progress 
in all its parts. But in the grand evolutions, which 
are necessary to produce the body that shall be, 
we can only behold a minute part. The work 
moves onwai'd by slow and imperceptible degrees ; 
it pervades the whole progress of time, and points 



300 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

out its completion in eternity. We see in the pre- 
sent life all that can be discovered according to 
our most rational views of the great event ; and to 
expect more is to act an unwarrantable part. No 
circumstance has yet taken place, from the creation 
to the present hour, which has given an air of delu- 
sion to our hopes. In point of rational evidence 
we stand on the same ground with our predeces- 
sors ; the only difference is, that we are a few stages 
nearer to the grand result. Our posterity will be 
one stage nearer than ourselves ; thus generation 
shall succeed to generation, till the awful period ar- 
rives, when "the swarm shall issue, and the hive 
shall burn." 

If, therefore, we lose sight of the authority of 
the Bible for a moment, and examine with an im- 
partial mind, the etidence in favour of the resur- 
rection, which God has otherwise afforded us ; and 
compare that evidence with those objections which 
can be brought against the fact, the scale will pre- 
ponderate in favour of the event. And, though 
the evidence may be considered as arising from pro- 
bability and analogy only ; yet it should not be 
forgotten, that all objections with which the fact can 
be assailed, originate in the avowed weakness of the 
understanding, and are founded upon nothing more 
than an inability to comprehend. Admitting, 
therefore, that the evidence is only of a probable 
and analogical nature ; yet these faint intimations 
of nature, when collected from their ^arious chan- 
nels, and united together, form no inconsiderable 
stream. They are superior to those objections 



Sect. VI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 301 

which can be raised against them ; and that mind 
must act under the dominion of prejudice, which 
will not yield assent to an important factj which is so 
well supported. 



SECT. VL 

Arguments to prove that though our future Bodies 
must be formed of Parts^ the Peculiarity of the 
Situation will place them beyond the reach of Dis- 
solution, Reflections on our present and future 
Condition, 

When we turn our thoughts from the nature of 
those bodies which we now have, to that of those 
which we shall possess hereafter ; we enter a re- 
gion in which popular prejudices are calculated to 
delude us, on which account they must be laid 
aside. To investigate with accuracy, the mind 
must be devested of those local influences, which 
can only be applicable to the present state ; it must 
not lose sight of that region which it is attempting 
to explore, nor associate with human nature, be- 
yond the grave, those circumstances of being, 
which are only appropriate to its condition in the 
present life. « 

In those pages, through which we have lately 
passed, we have considered the influence of gravi- 
tation as peculiar to our situation of being ; but by 
no means incorporated with being itself, so as to 
enter into the constitution of its nature. On these 



3D2 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

grounds, we have presumed that the influenee of 
gravity cannot be infinite in its extent ; and there- 
fore we rest assured that material being may con- 
tinue when gravitation shall be destroyed ; or, that 
it may exist in a distant region, where the influence 
of gravity cannot reach. 

In one of these situations, we have presumed 
that our future residence will be assigned us ; and, 
that under those circumstances which must arise 
from that mode of existence, our bodies will be 
light, active, and volatile, capable of being trans- 
ported from region to region, without feeling any 
obstructing medium, through which the velocity of 
their progress might be imparted. We have also 
presumed, that the actions of the soul will be of 
sufficient energy to put the bod}^ in motion, with 
a degree of vigour which shall be infinitely superior 
to that with which our bodies are now impelled 
to action ; so that the impulses of the soul will su- 
persede the necessity of muscular exertion. 

These grounds being admitted, the real quantity 
of matter, of which our bodies shall be composed, 
can have no influence upon the final result. Where 
all power of resistance is removed, masses of all 
dimensions must submit to action. The inertness 
of matter must give way to the smallest impulse ; 
and action must be the necessary result. Whether, 
therefore, our future bodies shall be composed of 
those radical principles, which now constitute their 
respective identities, without the admission of any 
other additional particles ; or, whether we suppose 
that a vast number of others shall incorporate with 



S6ct. VI 3 OP tHE HUMAN BODY. 303 

those radical parts ; the principles themselves, upon 
which we have proceeded, cannot be effected by 
the decision. The impelling energy, by which alone 
action can be produced, must operate alike where 
all resistance is actually removed ; — and all matter 
in such a situation must be in a passive state. 

But, there is another question of considerable 
importance, which remains to be discussed. Whe- 
ther the bodies, which we shall have hereafter, 
contain many particles or only a comparatively few ; 
certain it is, that they will be material. If they 
are material, they must be formed of parts ; and 
if formed of parts, which are separable in their 
natures, on what ground have we any just reason 
to expect that they will adhere together for ever ? 

It has been said in an early stage of this work, 
that all bodies which are formed of parts, include 
within themselves a natural tendency to dissolution. 
That the particles which have been taken from a 
different element to compose distinct bodies, are 
only detained in their new departments by an ad- 
hesive power ; but the instant that the adhesive 
power ceases to operate, these particles, being dis- 
charged from their confinement, naturally repair 
to their elementary abodes. These principles, 
while they apply to all material objects, must ne- 
cessarily be applicable to the body of man. They 
were applicable to the human body, when God 
called it into being ; and have acted upon it through 
every stage which human nature has hitherto passed. 
It is on this account, death has passed upon all 



304 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

men, and reduced the visible parts of those who 
have departed this Hfe, to a state of corruption, 
and finally caused the dissolving parts to mingle 
with the dust^ 

It was to counteract this natural tendency, in 
the primeval condition of man, that God intro- 
duced the tree of life. The salubrious efficacy of 
the fruit, which the introduction of that tree im- 
parted, seemed to be designed by God as a pre- 
servative of human vigour. And, it is more than 
probable that, if moral evil had never entered into 
the world, the fruit of this tree would have coun- 
teracted that tendency to dissolution, which seems 
inseparable from all compounded bodies ; and would 
have lengthened out human life to a protracted 
period; until God should have been pleased to 
translate mankind into another abode, in which 
probation should be consummated in reward. 

But, when moral evil entered into the w^orld, the 
whole face of things became reversed. The tree 
of life was no longer permitted to impart its effica- 
cy ; the influence of the elements began immediately 
to operate ; and the natural tendency to dissolution, 
which was included in the human body, finally 
terminated in a total separation of all its parts. It 
is thus sin entered into the worlds and death by 
sin ; and thus death hath passed upon all men^ 
because all have sinned^ and come short of the glory 
of God, 

But, though in all compounded bodies there is 
a natural tendency to dissolution ; we cannot sup- 



Sect. VI.3 OF THE HUMAN BODY. SOS 

pose that it can extend beyond the grave. Were 
this the case, the perpetuity of the human body 
would stand on a very precarious foundation ; and 
we could have no reasonable assurance that the 
particles of which it shall be composed, shall adhere 
for ever, unless God were to introduce some me- 
dium, through which it should be preservedj 
somewhat analogous to the tree of life. But^ evea 
of this we could have but very inadequate concep- 
tions. The mode of being which our bodies shall 
assume hereafter, seems to be of a nature which 
precludes the necessity of food, and of all external 
aid. Their vigour will be drawn from the ' fountain 
of all perfection, without the necessity of these pre- 
carious supplies ; and they will be placed in a 
region where these tendencies shall be unknown. 

The natural tendencies to dissolution, which are 
incorporated in all compounded bodies, are most 
probably derived both from external and internal 
causes in the present life. Attracted^ and impel- 
led, influenced by the atmosphere, and constantly 
acted upon by the power of gravitation ; the gross 
materials which compose our bodies^ can find no 
rest till they are resolved into their pristine ele- 
ments, and adhere to those common centres to 
which they invariably tend. The various forms, in 
which they are assailed, must conspire to dislodge 
them from the stations which they occupy in our 
bodies, and to reduce them to that state in which 
they were, before the formation of man, 

U u 



S06 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

As all matter is perfectly indifferent to motion 
and rest, we can have no reason to imagine that 
any change whatever would pass upon the body, 
even in the present state, if all external impulses, 
and all internal tendencies were totally removed. 
A particle, which is placed beyond the reach of 
influence and tendency, must necessarily preserve 
its station, whatever that station may be. We can 
have no more reason to suppose that it will remove 
to-morrow, than we had that it would move to-day ; 
and the same reasons will hold good next week, 
next month, next year, and so on for ever. If 
one particle could not remove from that station, 
neither could another under the same circumstances ; 
and that for the same reason. And those reasons 
which will account for the establishment of two 
particles, will account for all those which compose 
our bodies, and clearly place them, even in the 
present life, beyond the influence of putrefaction 
and change. And, as these consequences are 
undeniable, admitting the principles upon which 
they are founded ; it plainly follows, that those ten- 
dencies, which are lodged within the parts, of 
which our bodies are composed, as well as the 
various influences which they feel, are not essential 
to compounded bodies, though inseparable from 
them in the present state. 

When we look into that world which we hope 
to inherit beyond the grave, we behold a condition 
of being similar to that which we have just supposed. 
It is a region, in which neither atmosphere nor gra- 



Sect. VI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. S07> 

vitation can act upon our bodies ; and in which 
every tendency to dissolution shall be perfectly un- 
known. 

In what form our bodies may be constituted, or 
by what secret cement the particles of which they 
may be composed, shall be united, are points into 
which we do not now inquire. But, even admit- 
ting the cement to be no other than that which 
unites our parts in the present life, we can have no 
conception that they can possibly dissolve. Though 
the parts are material, they can have no tendency 
to remove from those stations which they occupy ; 
because the earth, which is their centre of gravita- 
tion, shall be destroyed. Ascent and descent are 
terms, which in that region must lose all distinct- 
ions ; and not a single atom will discover a ten- 
dency to remove from that station which it sustains. 

Even the cardinal points, by which we now 
measure out into distinct portions both heaven and 
earth, will probably be totally unknown ; and we 
shall feel ourselves as unable to measure directions, 
when these points are destroyed, as we shall to 
measure the succession of duration, when time 
shall be no more. Every particle must hang upon 
its own centre, and find itself as much at home 
as those are which now adhere to the centre of our 
globe. The situation of those particles must be 
much the same, in these relations, as that of an 
intelligent man would be if the globe on which he 
stands were annihilated in an instant beneath his 
feet, and he were left floating in the abyss of space/ 



308 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vh 

The relative ideas of high and low, up and donvrty 
in such a situation, must necessarily be destroyed. 
The influence of attraction and gravity might re- 
main in the case which we have supposed ; and he, 
who was left floating in the desolated abyss of space 
might be put in motion by those distant bodies 
Avhich exerted their powers ; but, even from these 
distant influences, the atoms of our future bodies 
must necessarily be exempted; and, being once 
fixed in their stations, they must retain their abodes 
for ever. 

On these grounds, the perpetuity of our bodies, 
though they will be material, can be rationally ac- 
counted for ; and we see them fixed upon a perma- 
nent foundation, notwithstanding they are of a 
compounded nature, and though all compounded 
bodies have within them a natural tendency to dis- 
sohition. The evidence, through which we may be 
assured of their perpetual duration, leaves no more 
doubt upon the mind of the certainty of the fact, 
than ihe mind can have of the durability of that 
matter of which they are composed. 

In many cases, it is a peculiar characteristic of 
truth that it is of an illustrative nature. Facts 
sometimes associate together ; and it not unfrequent- 
ly happens, that the establishment of one fact places 
it in a situation to corroborate another. It is pecu- 
liar to those facts which we have b^en contempla- 
ting, that they occupy both stations ; while they 
render themselves conspicuous by the light which 
they impart. 



«ect. VI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 309 

The removal of our bodies from these abodes is 
associated with a change of condition^ and a change 
in the modification of our material parts. These 
branches are inseparable from one another, and are 
so closely interwoven, that it is scarcely possible for 
us to conceive either detached from its connexions. 
In point of evidence they afford to each other mu- 
tual support ; the first leads immediately to the se- 
cond, and the second involves the third by an inevi- 
table consequence. Uniformity is visible in the 
midst of astonishment. Our mind may retire from 
the survey of a scene so awful ; but, we must ac-- 
knowledge consistency, even though we withhold 
belief. 

These associating truths immediately lead to 
others, which are equally important and interesting 
with themselves. They diffuse light over those re- 
gions, through which we have already travelled ; 
they raise conjecture into probability, and give to 
probability all that circumstantial evidence w^hich 
is necessary to the establishment of moral truth. 

A body which can continue in existence, without 
the assistance of those external supplies which arc 
essentially necessary to our existence in this sublu- 
nary abode, can have no uses for those organs and 
faculties w^hich are peculiar to our present state. 
From this circumstance arises the inference, that 
what can be only applicable to the present state^ 
can have no place w^hatever in the next. New or- 
gans will most probably supply the place of those 
which shall be destroyed ; but, without doubt their 



310 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

construction will be exactly appropriate to the sta- 
tion which they shall fill. Even the constitution of 
our bodies will be formed anew ; and joints and 
muscles will in all probability be done away. 

Of this truth we are fully assured, that jiesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither 
doth corruption inherit incorruption. Such chan« 
ges must, therefore, take place, as will entirely un- 
hinge those parts which we denominate fiesh and 
blood; while the radical materials will be preserved ; 
so that in point of identity our bodies will be still 
the same, though moulded and fashioned like unto 
the glorious body of Jesus Christ. 

Though the aids of nutrition are absolutely neces- 
sary to our present state of being ; yet perhaps we 
are not obliged to admit that every part of the body 
is indebted to this external support. The parts 
which constitute the identity of our bodies appear 
rather to remain unchanged. The particles which 
compose those parts, seem fixed in tlieir stations. 
They cannot give place to others ; nor can they re- 
tire from that rank which they sustain. No acqui- 
sition of new atoms can possibly be made ; because 
this would be to enlarge the identity of the body, 
and would involve a contradiction. In either of 
the cases which have been supposed, we must ad- 
mit a transfer of identity, wdiich is absolutely impos- 
sible ; and this impossibility of consequence decides 
imperiously against the admission of those princi- 
ples which would involve such contradictory issues. 
As then, no particle can be either acquired or lost, 



Sect. VI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. SI I 

or exchange its station with another that is foreign ; 
it seems unreasonable to suppose that the radical 
parts of our bodies, in which I have presumed their 
identity consists, can receive any external supplies 
from that nutrition which is necessary to our lives. 
These radical parts are, in all probability, emblem- 
atical, in their manner of existence, of that which our 
future bodies shall possess, when time shall be lost 
in eternity. We behold in miniature that mode of 
life, which our bodies shall sustain hereafter ; and, 
though it is a mode of existence which we cannot 
comprehend, it only serves, in conjunction with 
other truths, to point out unto us the -limitation of 
our faculties, when we turn them to investigate the 
wonderful works of God. 

The preservation of these portions of our bodies, 
in a situation where all other compounded bodies 
are verging to decay, can only be ascribed to the 
infinite power, and unsearchable wisdom of Him, in 
rohom we live, and move, ajid have our being. At 
best, in this life we see but through a glass darkly ; 
and have but inadequate conceptions of those scenes 
which we contemplate. The shadows of mortality 
hover round us, and conceal those realities which 
lie beyond the grave. A few scattered rays of light 
disseminate their lustre through the gloom, suffi- 
ciently luminous to convince us, that we are not pur- 
suing phantoms, when we look beyond the grave. 

Our organs of vision, as well as our mental pow- 
ers, seem best adapted to the station which we now 
occupy ; but, even to an accurate investigation of 



M2 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

the things of time, we feel ourselves totally incom- 
petent. The influence of moral evil, whithout doubt, 
has darkened up the avenues of the soul, and pre- 
vented our mental powers from penetrating those 
oceans of knowledge which lie in rich reversion be- 
yond the grave. The rays of light, which irradiate 
this Jield of blood, and of darkness which we inha- 
bit, are convincing proofs of that height from whence 
we have fallen ! while they serve to shew us the 
glory which we have lost. The present condition 
of creation is an evidence of our disgrace : even the 
earth, which trembles beneath our feet, while it gives 
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, is evi- 
dently labouring under a curse for the sake of man. 
Our mental powers feel the fatal disorder ; they ex- 
hibit to ourselves a strange variety of imbecility and 
power ; we appear to ourselves " majestic though in 
ruins." 

When we turn to our bodies, the mournful pic- 
ture requires no colouring. Our decorations arc 
but badges of our shame. Our noblest triumphs 
are of short duration; 'Hhe paths of glory lead 
but to the grave." Our continuance, in the midst 
of all that which the body can enjoy, is but momen- 
tary ; even " earth's highest station ends in here he 
lies, and dust to dust concludes our noblest song." 
The swift approach of death casts a damp upon our 
most sanguine expectations ; the tombs of our de- 
parted' kindred and neighbours seem to tell us, that 
our breath is corrupt, our days are extinct, and 
the grave is ready for us. The shattered frag- 



Sect VI.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 313 

ments of those, who have stepped into eternity before 
us, exhibit nothing but a scene of disgust and degra- 
dation ; while they beckon us to the tomb to heighten, 
the disgrace. 

With these prospects before us, and these alone, 
human life is little more than a scene of misery ; 
encircled on every side with occasions of despair. 
But, the light of the gospel softens the horrors of 
the scene, and points out to a guilty world the 
efficacy of that blood which was shed on Calvary, 
to make an expiation for sin. Through this blood, 
life and immortality have again revisited these 
abodes ; and taught us to look beyond the confines 
of the grave for a scene of felicity that can never 
end. Through this blood of sprinkling the natural 
effects of sin are counteracted ; and salvation from 
the moral consequences of that fatal malady is freely 
offered to the sons of men. 

Through the efficacy of the atonement, we ex- 
pect a renewal of our material^ our morale and in- 
tellectual nature. The renewal of our moral na- 
ture we expect in time, and wait till the day of eter^ 
nity for the accomplishment of the rest. The pros- 
pects which are afforded us, of that glory which 
God has reserved in store for them that love him, 
are sufficiently revealed to animate our hopes ; but 
at the same time they are so veiled in shadows, that 
a consummation is not to be expected till we enter 
into another world. 

In that important aera, when the final renovation 
of all nature shall take place ; when our intellectual 
powers shall be restored to the full possession of 
"' ' Ww " 



3U IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

their pristine vigour ; and shall be delivered from 
those impediments which now embarrass and ob- 
struct their movements ; we shall be able with the 
utmost ease to solve those difficulties, which we 
cannot at present surmount. The action of our 
spirit upon our future body, together with the ef- 
fects resulting from that incomprehensible energy, 
will probably be laid open before us without an in- 
tervening shade. Familiarized to scenes of asto- 
nishment, which will move onward in an endless 
succession, our intellectual powers must be expanded 
beyond our present conception ; they will probably 
move forward for ever in progressive knowledge, 
perpetually discovering new wonders in God, and 
perpetually observing new regions which have been 
unexplored. The capacities of the soul are like its 
essence, incomprehensible and immortal. 

Our material parts, renewed with immortality, 
shall suit their immaterial partners, and afford such 
assistance through the medium of the senses, as 
shall rather facilitate than retard our active pursuits. 
The inexhaustible vigour which cmr bodies shall ac- 
quire, will, without doubt, add considerably to their 
agility ; and, in conjunction with other causes, es- 
tablish that mode of being which can only be com- 
prehended fully beyond the grave. 

But, what felicities soever human nature may 
enjoy hereafter, all must be ascribed to the redemp- 
tion of Jesus Christ. It is through him alone, that 
we are ransomed from the claims of justice, and 
snatched from the dominion of death. It is through 
him that this last enemy shall be destroyed, when he 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 315 

hath put down all rule and all authority and pow- 
er ; to him, therefore, be given glory, and honour, 
and might, and majesty, and dominion, for ever and 
ever. 



SECT. VII. 

On the Origin of bodily Identity, Arguments to 
prove, That the Identity of the Body can have 
no Existence prior to the formal Existence of 
the Body, That Abortions are perfectly re-^ 
concileable with the Theory which has been ad- 
vanced. 

On a subject which is so complex in its nature, and 
so important in its consequences, as the resurrec- 
tion of the human body, it is less astonishing that 
difficulties should occur in the investigation, than if 
none were raised. Many are trifling and insignifi- 
cant ; many will admit of satisfactory solutions, 
upon the principles before us. Some of each kind 
have been already considered ; and some of each 
description yet remain. 

But, while I attempt to refute some of these ob- 
jections, which are brought against the suppositions 
which have been made on the identity of man, I 
would by no means insinuate that all objections are 
to be considered as visionary and chimerical. I 
am conscious of many difficulties which it is not in 
my power to solve. Perhaps, no argument can 



316 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

perfectly rescue an abstruse subject of this nature 
from the various cavils to which it must necessarily 
be exposed. Nothing less than demonstration can 
acco.iiplish this ; but, this is a species of evidence 
which the subject before us does not afford. Even 
demonstration may be exposed to cavil, but cavil 
can never invalidate its testimony ; it may attack 
those branches to which the evidence does not 
apply, but cannot overturn that proof which it was 
designed to oppose. 

Evidence, in many cases, may be sufficient to 
substantiate a fact, without being so extensive in its 
application as to embrace every circumstance which 
is connected with it. On this ground, objections 
may be raised. In this case, objections will indeed 
prove, that this evidence is not sufficiently extensive 
to embrace all possible cases ; but they will not in- 
validate the testimony of the evidence adduced, nor 
overrule those cases to which the evidence more im- 
mediately applies. The evidence may be defective, 
without being erroneous ; it may be contracted in 
its application, without being driven from those ob- 
jects and facts which it professes to embrace. 

It is in this light that I view the case before us ; 
while I admit some permanent principle which con- 
stitutes the identity of the human body. The evi- 
dence by which it is supported, may be genuine in 
its nature without being of universal application. 
And, as all truths are uniformly harmonious in their 
nature, and therefore, never can oppose one ano- 
ther ; such objections as may be started against the 



Sect. VII.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 317 

fact before, will admit of satisfactory solutions, only 
from such principles as are at present placed 
within our reach. They are, therefore, subjects of 
distinct consideration, remote from our present 
views, and with which the evidence before us has 
not any necessary connection. The theory which 
is advanced, may therefore be genuine, though all 
objections cannot be fully answered; and, all that 
can be justly inferred is, that the evidence embraces not 
all possible cases, to which the objection attaches ; 
w^hile the evidence itself, as well as the fact which it 
supports, remains, notwithstanding a train of objec- 
tions, unimpeached and entire. 

Against the theory which I have adopted with 
respect to the identity of the human body, it may, 
perhaps, be said, — '' that, if there be a radical prin- 
ciple in man which constitutes the identity of his 
body here, and which will become the foundation 
of his body hereafter ; and this JDrinciple be impe- 
rishable and indissoluble in its nature, this supposi- 
tion cannot be reconciled with our views of an em- 
bryo principle which is lodged in the parent, from 
whom it proceeds." It may, furthermore, be said, 
" that, if the embryo principle remain indissoluble, 
the process of nature cannot be necessary to mature 
it to perfection ; and if it be lost, it miHtiites against 
the fundamental principles of the theory which is 
here advanced." To these objections I proceed to 
reply. 

That a principle of identity cannot be lost, I 
have already admitted ; and, for the same principle 



318 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

I still contend ; yet I must be allowed to suppose, 
that before these objections can acquire any force, 
it must be supposed that the principle of identity, 
of which we speak, must have a being. But I am 
far from supposing, that the distinct identity of all 
the individual bodies of the human race, have been 
coeval with the first progenitors of mankind. 

We must be satisfied that no body can exist with- 
out this principle ; however we may differ about its 
manner of existence, and its constituent parts. 
But it is absurd to suppose, that the identity of the 
human body can exist before the body itself is call- 
ed into actual being. Because, if we could imagine 
that those radical principles, which constitute the 
identity of the body, could exist prior to the body, 
it must be the identity of a body which has no exist- 
ence. It must, in this case, be the identity of a 
nonentity ; for, that which never had existence is a 
nonentity ; it must be the identity of a human body, 
and not the identity of a human body at the same 
time ; but, as this is a palpable contradiction, it 
cannot possibly be admitted. It will therefore fol- 
low, from hence, tliat no principle of identity can 
exist as such^ antecedently to the union of those 
numerical parts, of which the body is composed, 
and from which its existence is always denomina- 
ted in popular language. And, as bodies have not 
always \\?A this formal existence ; so, neither could 
this principle of identity, which must be lodged in 
some secret recess within its confines. 

That the constituent ports of bodies have exist- 
ed from the commencement of the human race, I 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 319 

am ready to allow ; not as actual parts of future 
bodies, but as simple matter capable of being modi- 
fied by infinite skill, and of being moulded into 
such forms, by unerring wisdom, through such fu- 
ture combinations, as our bodies now have. In a 
similar manner, those parts which constitute the 
identity of our bodies, must have had their pre-exist- 
ent state ; not in their official character, as the 
identity of any body whatever, but as simple mat- 
ter, capable of being thus constituted by the power 
of Almighty God. 

Hence then, it evidently appears, that though a 
principle of identity which is once in being, cannot 
be lost, we may conceive without difficuliy that 
we are . under no necessity of supposing that this 
germ must have been from eternity. We may 
without any impropriety admit the preclusion of an 
end, without supposing the being or thing to have 
been from eternity ; because, the admission of a be- 
ginning, and the preclusion of an end will by no 
means involve a contradiction. No one can ques- 
tion that the Almighty God can give beginning and 
preclude an end ; — such a mode of action is a fair 
inference of power. That God has acted thus, is 
evidently deducible from all that he has communi- 
cated to us concerning the nature of angels, and the 
souls of men ; and, perhaps, of all spiritual sub- 
stances which we can conceive, and which have any 
real existence. And although we admit this to be the 
case, with regard to this principle of identity which 
I have here supposed, it is no more incumbent on 
me to delineate that mode of existence, than it is for 



320 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

any other to account for the manner in which spiri- 
tual substances exist, to whom we attribute a simi- 
lar mode of being. 

That the elementary principles, of which our 
bodies arc composed, were lodged in our progeni- 
tors, is a fact too obvious to require any proof. 
And since time is progressive in all its movements, 
we cannot avoid concluding that the seminal parts 
of the human body must appear in various stages 
of progressive advancement, verging towards a. 
mode of maturity which can only be consummated 
in another stage. In any of these intermediate 
stages, should an accident happen to the progenitor, 
those seminal parts not having acquired a state of 
maturity sufficient to constitute a distinct bodily 
identity, must dissolve again into the pristine ele- 
ments of matter, and mingle with the common mass. 

What that stage of progression is in which this 
degree of maturity is acquired, which distinguishes 
being from unorganized matter, is a point which 
seems too minute for the mind to investigate. The 
lines of demarkation, which divide the identity of 
the Body from the common mass, are too attenua- 
ted for human discernment ; they are buried in ob- 
scurity, and their precise situation is not placed 
within the reach of man to determine. Satisfied I 
am, that such a point must have an existence some- 
where in the primeval progress of the human body ; 
but, it is a point of progression, which, perhaps, is 
known only to God. 

It is sufficient to satisfy my inquiries, that I can 
fix two points at no considerable distance from each 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 321 

Other ; in one of which I am satisfied, that nothing 
can exist but unorganized matter ; and in the other, 
that the identity of the body has a being. If, there- 
fore, I know that nothing but unorganized mat- 
ter exists in January^ but that this matter has 
been transformed into a condition of being, which 
constitutes the identity of the body, before the en- 
suing December ; I feel myself perfectly at rest, 
though I know not with any precision, at what point 
formal entity began. Previously to this important 
pointy nothing but potential energy and seminal matter 
can be said to exist ; but these cannot constitute for- 
mal being. The death of the progenitor must ne- 
cessarily annihilate that potential energy which I 
have supposed; and consequently, the seminal 
matter which was in existence must retire to the 
inactive mass. No formal being can in this case be 
supposed in existence, and consequently, no prin- 
ciple of bodily identity can be lost. 

If we admit those principles which have been laid 
down in the preceding paragraphs, it will not be 
difficult to account for those consequences which re- 
sult from abortions in their various stages. The diffi- 
culties which on these occasions associate with the 
supposition, which makes the identity of the body 
to consist in some radical principle, will be less for- 
midable than if we were to suppose that the identity 
of the body were to consist in all the numerical par«> 
tides of which the body is at any given time com- 
posed. In both cases, difficulties may be involved 

Xx 



322 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI, 

which we shall find inexplicable ; but, in admitting 
that those radical principles of matter constitute the 
identity of the body, in the manner which has been 
supposed, I can perceive no consequences which 
will ensue, that appear either contradictory or ab- 
surd* 

It may, perhaps, be asked, when an abortion takes 
place, " whether or not the abortive mass includes 
within it those principles of body which shall rise 
again ?" On this question it is difficult to determine 
with precision ; but, the principles which have been 
advanced lead us to a solution of those difficulties 
which the question seems to suppose. The affirm- 
ative or negative, which may be given to this ques- 
tion, will entirely depend upon the state of progres- 
sion of the abortive mass. It may include within 
it a principle of identity, or it may not. I have said 
in a preceding paragraph that a certain point must 
exist somewhere, which is perhaps known only to 
God ; and at this point entity of body begins. If, 
therefore, the abortive mass had passed this point be- 
fore the event took place, no doubt can be rationally 
entertained that this principle of bodily identity had 
been communicated : it must therefore retain its 
incorruptibility, and again be raised into immortal 
life. But, if on the contrary, that point which I 
have supposed the criterion of personal existence, 
had not been passed, then all must sink again into 
the common mass, and mingle with those atoms 
which never made any approaches towards animal 
life. 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 323 

It is, perhaps, at this important point which I 
have supposed, that the immaterial spirit begins its 
union with the body, and forms its connexion with 
those parts in w^iich the identity of the body is 
lodged. The same reasonings, therefore, v/hich 
have been employed about the commencement of 
the body will also apply to the commencement of 
the man. The compound of human nature must, 
probably, date its origin from this important point ; 
from which two distinct natures shall begin a life 
which shall never end. 

I have presumed to conjecture, that it is to this 
principle of identity that the soul is more imme- 
diately united ; but certain it is, that no union can 
possibly take place before the body has obtained an 
existence. And it is equally certain, that no distinct 
existence can be supposed in the embryo body, till 
it has acquired a distinct identity, by which alone 
it can be known ; and this distinct existence cannot 
be acquired, until the materials have arrived at 
a certain stage of progression, in their approaches 
towards maturity and perfection. 

But, these are points which belong to God : It 
is for man to conjecture, but for God to appoint and 
comprehend. They are points which our intellec- 
tual powers are not acute enough to discern ; and 
they are wrapped up in shades which we cannot 
penetrate. The utmost of our researches rise but 
litde higher than probable conjecture ; but on points 
which are so abstruse, it is the highest evidence 



324 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

which we can hope to attain. And, while this evi- 
dence is heavier in the scale of probability, than 
those objections are, which are set against it, we 
must abandon our reason if we permit such objec- 
tions to operate in all their force. The solution of 
such difficulties must disarm objections of their 
power, even though the solution should be errone- 
ous. It will convince us that what we have sup- 
posed probable, may be certain ; because it involves 
nothing that is either contradictory or absurd. 

From the reasonings which have been adduced 
in the present section, I am well aware that an ob- 
jection of another nature may be advanced. As I 
have presumed that no existence can be attributed 
to those parts which constitute the identity of our 
bodies, until our bodies obtain a formal existence : 
it will be natural for the reader to inquire, "how the 
sentiments of this section can be reconciled with 
those of another, in which I have said that those 
embryos which slumber longest in their sires^ will 
require less time to ripen in the grave ?" To this 
question I answer, that though the embryo, as such, 
has not any formal existence, until the materials of 
the body have arrived at a certain stage in their pro- 
gressive movements ; yet the elements out of which 
this embrvo is afterward called into formal beinsr, 
must have existed from the origin of man. And, 
perhaps the secret process which these materials have 
undergone in their elementary state, may have 
tended towards their maturity through every stage 
which they have passed ; and by these means they 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 325 

become more capable of that completion which they 
shall assume when the bodies of the departed shall 
awake to perpetual life. 

If a certain portion of duration were to be allot- 
ted for the ripening of any given principle, and the 
maturing of it to any given degree of perfection ; 
nothing more could be required, than that the per- 
fection should be attained within the limits which had 
been prescribed ; if they actually appeared within the 
period of prescription, no room for any real objec- 
tion could remain. The only objection which could 
be started must be confined wholly to the circum- 
stances of the process, while the essential parts of 
the question, on which alone an objection of any 
weight could be rationally founded, could have no 
interest whatever in the charge. Objections, there- 
fore, which are established upon this foundation, can 
no longer be objections against the fact itself, but 
against some circumstances of it, with which the 
fact can have but little or no connexion. 

The only question Avhich we can feel ourselves in- 
terested to answer is, not in what manner a prin- 
ciple of identity shall ripen into maturity ; but 
whether it shall he produced within a given portion 
of duration ? Now, if within this given portion of 
duration, the event be accomplished, the end will 
be fully answered, though the modes of its produc- 
tion be various. And, whether the matter which is 
finally matured into a principle of personal identity, 
continued a longer period in one of its stages than in 
another, the final result will be exactly the same as 



326 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

though the process had been conducted with the 
greatest exactness and uniformity. On these grounds, 
the sentiments which I have advanced in both sec- 
tions are perfectly harmonious ; and I proceed by an 
illustration to reconcile them together. 

If a period of six thousand years were allotted for 
the completion of a given process, and this period 
were divided into two, three, or four distinct stages, 
no difficulty can occur to the mind, in conceiving 
that one of these stages should be much shorter 
than another ; though we admit that the aggregate 
amount of time shall be finally equal. On the same 
ground, different processes may vary from one ano^ 
ther in their intermediate stages ; and yet finally 
issue in the necessary completion, when the whole 
period shall ultimately expire. 

A. may be a much longer time in its elementary 
condition than B, and consequently, will on that 
account require less time to be exalted to a state 
of perfection, through the subsequent stages which 
it has to pass. If A. continue five hundred years 
in its elementary principles, it must have five thou- 
sand five hundred to remain in its subsequent stages, 
in order that it may be ripened for the grand result 
of all. But if A, continue one thousand years in 
its elementary state, only five thousand can remain 
to complete the whole. Yet, in both of these cases 
the final condition of A, at the expiration of six 
thousand years, will be precisely the same, as though 
no difference whatever had taken place in the inter- 
mediate stages through which it passed. 
If A. continue a less time than B, in its elemen- 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY 327 

tary state, it will require more time to ripen in those 
stages which are to follow ; because in its elemen- 
tary state it made fewer approaches towards perfec- 
tion, through the shortness of that period which was 
allotted it in its elementary state. And hence it 
will follow by the same mode of reasoning, that 
though A. continued five thousand years in its ele- 
mentary principles, only one thousand can remain 
for those subsequent stages through which it has to 
pass. The materials of which A, was afterward to 
be composed, might have acquired a considerable 
degree of progressive improvement, while in their 
elementary abode ; and consequently, be at a much 
less distance from final perfection than if they had 
only been fixed in that station, about twenty, thirty ^ 
or forty years. 

If ji, and B, were destined to pass six thousand 
3'^ears in C. and Z). in order to their perfection, — 
that the first stage should be elementary, and the 
second should be formal being ; the case which I 
have supposed in the preceding paragraph will 
equally apply. No just reason can be assigned, 
from the circumstances of the supposition, how long 
the constituent parts of A. and B, should continue 
in C. which is presumed to be their elementary con- 
dition. Their time may be considerably different 
from each other, in this elementary state ; though 
the final result may be the same. For, if in this 
given case A. were to continue Jive thousand years, 
and B. only Jive hundred in this elementary state 
of existence ; A. would have only one thousand 
years to remain in a state of formal being before it 



328 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

reached perfection : while B. under the circumstan- 
ces of the supposition, must require Jive thousand 
Jive hundred^ before it could reach the same state 
of perfection, admitting the whole period to amount 
with each to six thousand years. And the reason 
of this difference, if such it may be termed, arises 
from the cases themselves which have been given. 
The length of that duration which A, continued in 
its elementary condition, precluded the necessity of 
any greater length of time for formal being ; while 
in the case of B, the scene is entirely inverted ; and 
the same reasons which inform us why A, had but 
a comparatively short state of formal being, will 
satisfactorily assure us why that of B. must continue 
so long. And therefore, from all the cases which 
have been supposed, it plainly follows, that the final 
result must be perfectly equal ; and that at the last, 
perfection must be attained by A. and B, in the 
same moment, notwithstanding the diversity which 
has been marked in their intermediate stages. 

It is in this manner that we view those princi- 
ples of matter, which constitute the identity of the 
human body. The extent of duration which is ne- 
cessary to prepare the human body for its perfec- 
tiai, lies within the boundaries of time ; beginning 
witli its commencement, and ending when time shall 
be no more. 

Within the confines of this duration, we behold 
four distant stages, through which those parts, 
which constitute the identity of the body, must neces- 
sarily pass, in order to their attainment of complete 
perfection beyond the grave. The Jirst of these 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 3^9 

stages is that of its elementary principles ; the se^ 
cond is that of an embrj^o in the womb ; the third 
is that of its union with an immaterial spirit, and 
with the fluctuating portions of flesh and blood in 
our present state; and the fourth stage is that of 
its residence in the grave. 

The whole of these ^stages are undoubtedly ne- 
cessary to the full perfection of the body, they are 
alembics through which its parts must necessarily 
move, to attain that vigour which shall continue for 
ever ; and which can only be attained at the final 
consummation of things. But, the periods in 
which the body must continue, in either of these 
distinct stages, seem multiform and various ; they 
vary with the progressive movements of time ; and 
though they lie within the compass of the general 
theory, it is plain to discover that they must be un- 
defined. 

The materials which shall hereafter constitute 
the body or identity of A. may have lodged but a 
few years, or perhaps but a few weeks, in their ele- 
mentary state; and consequently, they must on 
that account require a proportionably longer period 
either in a state of embryo^ in our present condition 
or in the grave. But, since an embryo condition 
is alike to all, and since the variation of our present 
state can hardly be taken into the account which we 
have now before us, it being in this view nearly- 
alike in all ; the time which seems so short in its 
elementary state, must be supplied by the repose 
which the grave affords. A deficiency of time in 

Yy 



330 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vt 

an elementary state, must therefore be made up by 
the surplus of time in the grave ; and in those after 
ages of the world, in which a surplus of elementary 
time shall appear, it will be fully counteracted by 
the shortness of that repose, which, to them, the 
grave will be able to supply. 

Time, without doubt, has a close connexion with 
eternity ; and its various movements apply to our 
future being beyond the grave. For which reason, 
we may i justly take into the account the whole pro- 
gress of ^successive duration, from the commence- 
ment, fb the final consummation of time. And, 
though we suppose that no identity of body can 
have any being, before body in all its parts has a 
formal existence ; yet, it is easy to conceive, that 
those seminal parts out of which it is composed, 
must have had a prior existence ; and that in their 
elementary stations they may have undergone a va- 
riety of imperceptible changes, through which they 
have verged towards that state of perfection which 
will not be completed till the sea and the gmve 
shall give up their dead. 

At the same time, while it thus appears demon- 
strable, that the constituent particles which shall 
form the body, may verge towards perfection, 
though formal being has no existence ; it is also evi-^ 
dent, that the resurrection of the body can only 
take place at that time which God has appointed, 
and which is only known to him. It must be a 
period, when all the individuals of the human race 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY- 331 

sliall have passed through those various processes, 
which are necessary to ripen their bodies for eter- 
nity ; so that at the sound of the trumpet all the 
different inhabitants of the world may start at once 
into immortal life. 

Thus then, we may easily perceive, that notwith- 
standing the infinite variety of births, of deaths, and 
of abortions, which have taken place already, and 
which shall take place hereafter ; the resurrection 
of all the bodies of the dead will be alike recon- 
cileable to the principles before us. Nothing will 
be over-ripe, nothing will be premature. All are 
now tending to the same point, and have been so 
from creation to the present hour ; all will therefore, 
be alike prepared for that important moment, when 
xht piercing call of God shall enter the territories of 
the dead, and awaken mankind to a mode of life 
which is at present but little known. 

Hence then we may perceive, that those objec- 
tions which are only founded upon the circum- 
stances of a fact, can never apply to the fact itself. 
Nothing but objections against fact can apply to 
fact; while objections against circumstances can 
only apply to circumstances. In the case before 
us, it is only of fact that I have presumed to speak ; 
the circumstances of it have only been introduced m 
general terms, to counteract those objections which 
appeared against the subordinate parts of the the- 
ory which had been adduced. The fact itself may 
be unexceptionable, while the circumstances of it 
may be encumbered with difficulties which cannot 
be overcome. Argument may be adduced in fa- 



332 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

vour of the former, too strong to be refuted, and 
too perspicuous to be overlooked. In those cases, 
all objections against the attendant circumstances 
of such facts must necessarily give way, even though 
they contain difficulties which cannot be overcome, 
and to which no answer can be given. 

No fact can be more evident than that of the ex- 
istence of God ; and yet, the circumstances of his 
existence are wrapped in impenetrable darkness. 
The certainty of his existence cannot be affected by 
the manner of his existence ; we may be fully satis- 
fied of the former, though the latter be totally un- 
known. That the sun is the fountain of light 
will admit of no dispute ; but to opinions on 
the manner in which these properties either inhere 
in that luminary, or are produced by him, there is 
hardly any end. The various productions of na- 
ture appear before us in a similar manner ; we are 
satisfied of their existence, but the ways in which 
they take place are totally unknown. In all these 
cases, the evidence of the fact is totally distinct from 
the evidence of its circumstances, the former is 
placed within oi^r reach, but the latter lies concealed 
from our most acute researches. 

It is on principles of a similar nature, founded 
on correspondent evidence, that we may be assured 
that some permanent principles of matter are 
lodged within us ; — ^that they constitute the identity 
of our bodies ; — ^that they move through the various 
stages of progression ; and ripen into perfection 
through the lapse of duration, and the progress of 
corruption in the grave. At the same time, the 



Sect. VII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 333 

subordinate circumstances which are attendant on 
the fact, are placed in many cases beyond our 
reach ; they elude our researches, and not unfre- 
quently mock our hopes. We have, therefore, suf- 
ficient evidence to prove that the fact itself stands 
independently of all its subordinate circumstances ; 
and that they are points which in this view have no 
necessary connexion with one another. It therefore 
follows, that all those objections which have origina- 
ted in the circumstances of this fact, and which in 
the case last considered, were applied to the fact itself, 
cannot aifect the general question, though it should 
appear that they have not been satisfactorily account- 
ed for. In either case, the fact itself is disencum» 
bered from those difficulties which apparently clog- 
ged it, and those objections which have been raised, 
must consequently disappear. 

The proofs which will tend to establish the fact 
must insensibly tend to silence those objections 
which may be raised against its dependencies, by 
separating it from them, and thereby causing it to 
stand or fall by its own evidence. The most for- 
midable objections which occur, have been already 
considered ; and we proceed in the next section to 
give a summary of that evidence which induces us 
to believe the fact* 



4 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 



SECT. VIII. 

Summary of that direct Evidence^ by which we 
are assured^ that the Identity of the Human 
Body must consist in some radical Principle^ or 
Germ^ which can neither expire nor change. 

Having entered somewhat largely into the subject 
of identity in the preceding sections, and considered 
it in various views and relations, it may not be im- 
proper to present the reader with those proofs which 
have already been laid before him, detached from 
those connexions in which they have been already 
seen. 

We have uniformly fixed the identity of the body 
in some immoveable principles of matter, which wc 
have indifferently denominated germ^ or stamen. 
We have supposed it to be incapable of decay or 
change, and to be the foundation of that body which 
shall survive the grave. That such a principle does 
actually exist, we have both presumed and adduced 
evidence to prove ; and we now proceed to give a 
summary statement of the evidence which has indu- 
ced that belief. 

As man is now in actual existence, he must have 
his personality peculiar to himself; or how other- 
wise shall one individual be distinguished from 
another ? The human body is, in this view, dis- 
tinct from the man. The body being also in 
existence must have some distinguishing criterion, 



Sect. VIII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 335 

by which it is denominated, and considered a part 
from all others. This distinguishing criterion must 
also consist in something, whatsoever that somethings 
may be. 

The principal candidates to fill this important sta- 
tion, which can offer themselves to our thoughts, 
may be considered as six in number, it is amongst 
these, therefore, alone that we can look for the identi- 
ty of the body, with any probable hope of success. 
The first subject in which we can conceive the 
identity of the body to be lodged, must be those 
particles, which compose our bodies when we first 
enter upon life. The second is in those numerical 
particles which compose our bodies at any giveri 
period of our lives* The third must consist in the 
modification of the parts ; the fourth, in all those 
particles, which compose our bodies at the time 
of xleath ; the fifth is in the majority of those 
particles which are deposited in the earth; and 
the sixth is in some immoveable principle, which 
has survived the changes of our bodies, and which 
shall survive the shock of death. To these six par- 
ticulars we shall now turn our thoughts, and briefly 
examine the pretensions of each. 

The identity of the body cannot consist in the 
numerical particles which compose the body of an 
infant, because of those surprising changes which 
it visibly undergoes ; and because it would be irre- 
concileable with the principles of justice, to ad- 
minister either rewards or punishments in another 
life, for those personal actions which the body of 
an infant could not possibly have performed. On 



S36 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

these grounds, this first candidate for identity must 
be dismissed, because the admission would involve 
both injustice and absurdity. 

Neither can the identity of our bodies be lodged 
in all the numerical particles, of xvhich they are 
composed, at any given period of our lives, as was 
supposed in the second case. As the human body 
is in a state of perpetual mutation, the supposition 
which places its identity in all the numerical parti- 
cles of which it is composed, will necessarily 
oblige us to suppose, that identity must be trans- 
ferred from one system of atoms to another, which 
involves a plain contradiction. As therefore, iden- 
tity, in whatsoever it may consist, cannot possibly 
undergo any transfer, because it is contradictory; 
and, as the human body is in a state of perpetual 
change, it plainly follows, that identity cannot con- 
sist in all the numerical particles of which the body 
has at any given period been composed. 

Neither can we suppose that the identity of the 
body can consist in the modification of those pai'ts 
which at any given period reside within its external 
form, as was presumed in the third case. In 
admitting this case, we shall be obliged to suppose 
that the identity of substance, and the identity of 
the modification of it, are terms synonymous with 
each other, though they are manifestly expressive 
of two distinct ideas. The substance may remain 
entire in all its parts, though it may be modified 
anew in an infinite variety of forms. The particles 
which compose anj'^ given s} stem of organized mat- 
ter, may exchange their situation with one another, 



Sect. VIIl.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 3S7 

without being removed from the system, or even 
without acquiring any particle that is new. Our 
own senses point out unto us an evident distinction 
between the two ideas ; and we cannot avoid learn- 
ing from our own reflections, that the sameness 
of the iiidLciialb uf which uui budics tue composed, 
can never consist in the arrangement of the parts. 
Modification always presupposes existence, and 
therefore never can constitute it. Modification is 
perpetually changing, through every stage which 
the body undergoes, from infancy to hoary age, 
while sameness continues unalterable ; which 
plainly proves that these distinct ideas cian never 
be blended together. The supposition before us, 
therefore, places the identity of the body on a 
more precarious foundation, than that which pre- 
sumed it to consist in all the numerical parts them- 
selves. That supposition involved a contradiction ; 
and this supposes that the materials themselves are 
the same with the arrangement of them. From 
these considerations it plainly follows, that the 
identity of the body can no more consist in the mo- 
dification of any numerical parts, than it can con- 
sist in those parts which are presumed to be thus 
modified and arranged. 

Neither can we, in the fourth place, suppose 
that the identity of the body can consist in all those 
particles^ which ^re deposited in the grave. In 
admitting this fourth supposition, we must presume 
that no identity of the body did exist, before the 

Z z 



338 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

period of death or interment ; because from this 
alone it is presumed to be denominated. And, as 
a transfer of identity is totally impossible, and this 
state of body could not be acquired prior to the 
moment which we suppose ; it will be impossible 

to say how lliia hudy v;cni be a aubjcut cither of 

reward or punishment, or become accountable for 
actions which were committed before this identity 
had any existence. In allowing the supposition 
before us, we must presume that the body had 
passed through life without any principle of identity ; 
and that this principle was only acquired when it 
was about to be deposited in the grave. In this 
view, we must suppose the body to be nothing more 
than a floating mass of matter, moving through life 
without any personal sameness, totally devoid of 
praise or blame ; equally unaccountable for its 
actions; and utterly incapable of becoming the 
object either of punishment or reward. 

If the body of man can pass through life, without 
any principle of identity, and without any denomi- 
nation of it, why should we suppose that the body 
should acquire it at the hour of death, or in the 
moment of interment ? Can identity in death and 
corruption be of any service to that body, which 
has passed through life without its aid? The sup- 
position appears too ridiculous to require further 
examination ; it even refutes itself, and obliges the 
inquiring mind to seek the identity of the body in 
some other region. As therefore the supposition 
before us can never be reconciled with those prin- 



Sect. VIII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



339 



ciples of immutable justice, which can alone inflict 
punishments and confer rewards, and make these 
punishments and rewards commensurate to the ac- 
tions of the present life ; we are furnished with the 
most unquestionable evidence, that it must be de- 
lusive and absurd. I therefore conclude, that the 
identity of the body cannot be denominated from 
all those paiticles which are deposited in the grave, 
any more than from that matter which composes 
our bodies, or the modification which that matter 
might have assumed. 

Nor shall we extricate ourselves from these em- 
barrassments, if we place the identity of the body 
in the majority of those particles which are depo- 
sited in the grave, rather than in all the parts of 
the lifeless mass. The majority of those particles 
which are deposited in the grave, must evidently 
have been acquired since the commencement of 
formal life; and consequently, can be but one 
stage removed from the condition of the particles 
at large. The quantity of matter which composes 
the body of an infant, when it enters life, can bear 
no proportion to the majority of those particles, 
which composes at death the body of an adult. All 
those, therefore, which are deficient in the body 
of an infant, when compared with the majority of 
those which compose the body of an adult, must 
evidently have, been acquired by the adult in some 
of those stages through which the body has evident- 
ly passed. And, whether we suppose the particles 



340 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap; VI. 

which compose the body of the infant^ to be in- 
ekided in those which constitute that of the man^ or 
to be excluded form the number ; we must in 
either case involve ourselves in difficulties which 
are wholly unsurmountable. 

If we suppose the body of the infant to be in- 
cluded in the majority of those particles which 
constitute that of the man^ at the time of interment, 
the identity of his body must consist in particles of 
two descriptions, those that were original^ and those 
which were acquired. Can it then be just to pu- 
nish or reward the particles which formed the infant, 
for those actions which were performed by the par- 
ticles which were acquired? Or, if we invert the 
order, can we conceive it consonant to justice to 
punish or reward the particles of the adult for 
those actions which the infant only performed ? 
This appears to be impossible. If those particles 
which composed the body of the infant had no iden- 
tity of themselves, they never could acquire it by 
associating with those particles which were after- 
wards acquired ; but, if they had an identity, they 
could not take the acquired particles into an union 
with themselves, because in no case whatever can 
sameness be transferred. The particles, there- 
fore, which composed the body of the infant, could 
never incorporate with those which were acquired, 
in point of identity, nor share between themselves 
and others a sameness which never could be trans- 
ferred. 



Sect. VIII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 341 

But, if we suppose that the particles which com- 
posed the body, when in its infant state, are not 
inchided in the majority of those particles which 
compose the body at death ; then all those particles 
in which the identity of the body is presumed to be 
placed, must evidently be acquired. In this case, 
the body which was born Is not the body which 
dies; all its parts must have dissipated by insen- 
sible degrees; and the body which is interred in 
the grave can contain within it not a single particle 
which was originally united to the immortal spirit. 
In this view, the spirit must have undergone a 
transmigration, as much so, as if the soul of Py- 
thagoras had inhabited the body of Bacon^ or of 
Locke. Hence, therefore, I conclude, that, as in 
point of fact, the body which is buried, must be 
the same body that was born, (which cannot be, if 
the identity of it consists in paiticles which arc 
acquired) no acquirement of particles can either 
give or constitute the identity of the body. And, 
if identity cannot consist either in the union of 
original and acquired particles, or in particles which 
are wholly acquired, then the identity of the body 
cannot consist in the majority of those particles which 
are deposited in the grave. 

Neither, if we proceed one step further, and 
include our bodily organs, in which some have even 
supposed that the identity of the body consists, will 
the result appear more favourable. For, as these 
organs may be mutilated,- and some of them totally 
destroyed, while sameness of person and sameness 
of body remain ; it will plainly follow, that the 



342 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI. 

identity of the body can neither consist in its orga- 
nization, nor depend upon it. And, if the organs 
can be destroyed, while the sameness of body 
remains entire, which I think no one will presume 
to deny ; it is a demonstrative proof that they are 
two distinct subjects, which have little or no neces- 
sary connection with each other. 

As then the identity of our bodies cannot consist 
in all those atoms which toe brought into the 
world with us^ because it would be irreconcileable 
with justice to reward or punish hereafter for those 
actions which maturity only could commit ; so, 
neither can we suppose that identity can consist in 
all the numerical particles of which our bodies 
are at any given time composed ; because these 
particles are in a perpetual change, and because 
identity cannot possibly be transferred. And, as it 
cannot consist in the modification of the parts, 
because sameness and arrangement are two distinct 
ideas ; nor in all those particles which are depo- 
sited in the grave ; because this supposes man to 
have existed through life without any identity ; nor 
in the majority of these particles, because they 
have evidently been acquired, and had no existence 
in the origin of man ; it is folly in the highest de- 
gree to place identity in those bodily organs, which 
may be mutilated, while the identity of the body 
remains entire. If, therefore, the identity of the 
body cannot consist in the whole, nor in the modi- 
fication of it, whether estimated in infancy or in 
maturity ; nor in the whole ; nor in the inajority 
of those particles which are deposited in the grave, 



Sect. VIII.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 343 

nor in the organs of our bodies ; what remains in 
which it can possibly consist? It must consist in 
something ; and that something must reside within 
the confines of man. Nothing more remains, in 
which we can conceive it possible, but that gerniy 
or stamen, which has been already considered. The 
admission therefore, of some immoveable principle, 
which neither the progress of time nor of life can 
alter, arises from a kind of moral necessity, which it 
is difficult to resist. 

When, therefore, we contemplate the evidence 
which breaks upon us in various forms, in favour of 
some immoveable principle, both from probable 
circumstances and more direct proof; and when to 
this we add the inefiicacy of those objections which 
can be brought against it ; and behold all nature 
supporting it by the analogy of vegetation in its va- 
rious productions and forms ; the evidence becomes 
at once powerful and convincing. But, when in 
addition to these circumstances, we reflect, that 
having travelled over those regions which could 
alone promise success, and finding every point on 
which we have fixed, to find the identity of the 
body, objectionable to a degree which has precluded 
probability ; we are turned back upon this princi- 
ple, which is immoveable by the impulse of moral 
necessity, and the dictates of reason. And, when 
to these circumstances we add the superior authority 
of an apostle, who has selected the process of ve- 
getation by which to illustrate the important subject 
which we have before us ; and who, to carry our 
reasoning into a future state, has expressly told us 



344 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VI, 

that we sow not that body which shall be ; what can 
we say, but that the evidences taken in the aggregate, 
and collected from those distinct quarters, become 
at once imperious and irresistible. 

Strange and unaccountable as it may appear, no 
other view affords us as much probable evidence, 
as that subject iv^hich we have chosen; and in which 
we have presumed that God has placed the identity 
of the human body. That this subject has its diffi- 
culties I have repeatedly admitted ; and that objec- 
tions may be raised against it we have already seen. 
Some of these objections have been considered, but 
many more which it is impossible to anticipate may^ 
hereafter be advanced. To these unknown objec- 
tions, I must beg leave, before 1 quit this subject, 
to offer the following remarks, which may operate as 
an apology for that theory which has been adopted. 

It is enough for us to know that we can trace, in 
the analogy of nature, those lines which divide im- 
possibility from possibility; through wliich wc 
learn those directions which die conduct of the Al- 
mighty takes. But, the secret springs of action 
are hidden from our views, and lodged in those al- 
most unapproachable recesses which infinite intel- 
ligence only can explore. Another world may un- 
fold to us an infinite variety of things, of which at 
present we can form no conceptions ; while the 
changes which we shall undergo, will, without 
doubt, exalt us in the scale of intelligence, as much 
above our present condition, as we now are above 
the brute creation. 

Whether an insight into the physical origin of ac- 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 3^ 

tion aiid intelligence may be among the communi- 
cable or incommunicable realities of an hereafter, 
we are at present certainly too ignorant to deter- 
mine; probability favours the latter. If then it 
be incommunicable, many objections which we have 
in time, will, without doubt, contimie in eternity. 
But, even admitting that a knowledge of these 
things will be incommunicable to us, we shall have, 
no doubt, satisfactory reasons revealed to us why 
they are concealed ; and we may learn from that 
circumstance how infinitely inferior the most exalted 
of created beings is to Him, who in the most em- 
phatic, language of scripture, inJmbiteth eternity. 

How any particles which were not vitally united 
to the human body can obtain an union with it, or 
how those which are now united shall hereafter be 
removed from it, or in what manner those changes 
which the body undergoes in time have been effect- 
ed, I confess myself totally unable to comprehend. 
But, objections which may be raised on these 
grounds, are not objections against theory, but 
against fact ; and on that account it is not incum- 
bent on me to answer them. Fact itself always 
rises superior to speculative opposition, and bids 
defiance to all attack. And, while it marks the 
weakness of the human intellect, it plainly assures 
us that we are ignorant of those things which are 
around us, and that we are strangers even to our- 
selves. 

Here then we finally rest in this department of 
the work ; and wait the flight of time, or the final 
consummation of all things, either to confi.rm our 

A a a 



346 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VL 

judgments or correct our errors. How the dead are 
7^aised, and with xvhat bodies they come^ are but 
remote branches of inquiry; we are more intimately 
concerned in knowing with certainty the fact itself, 
than we are in ascertaining how the various changes 
shall be accomplished. The whole process belongs 
to God, who giveth to the germ deposited in the 
grave a body^ as it pleaseth him, and to every seed 
his own body ; and after all our conjectural proba- 
bilities, when the event shall take place, we, without 
all doubt, shall acquire more real knowledge of 
those mysterious realities in one moment, than we 
can now obtain, though our whole lives were de- 
voted to the investigation of such theories. The 
evidence of the fact itself, abstractedly from all its 
circumstances, is however of a different nature, and 
involves our dearest interests. This evidence arises 
from distinct sources; some of them we have alreadv 
explored, and others yet remain for our investigation. 
These, therefore, which have been unexplored, will 
form the subject of the ensuing chapter. 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. o39 



CHAP. VII. 

THAT THE RESURRECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY 
IS POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, AN D CERT AIN, PRO- 
VED BOTH FROM PHILOSOPHY AND SCRIPTURE. 



SECT. I. 

That the Resurrection of the human Body is possi- 
sible, proved from the Nature of infinite Power ^ 
and the unohstructing Nature of Matter, 

When we turn our thoughts to the mere pos- 
sibihty of what may or may not be, in any given 
case, we can only view the subject in connexion with 
that power to which the action is attributed. Our 
knowledge, therefore, of that line which divides pos- 
sibility from impossibility, will approximate towards 
the truth, or fall short of it, in due proportion to our 
knowledge of that power which that Being possesses, 
who is presumed to accomplish the action. 

Among those things which we term impossible, 
there are some which are only morally^ but not ab- 
solutely so ; ^vhile there are many others, which arc 
absolutely impossible ; and on that account are not 
placed within the reach of any power whatsoever. 
To man those things are morally impossible, which 
are not placed within the reach of human ingenuit}^ 
to accomplish; and perhaps the obsei'vation A\ill 
extend to all the diifcrent orders of intelligent be- 



545 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

ings ; that which is placed beyond their reach to ac- 
compHsh, may with much propriety be termed a 
moral impossibiUty. 

But, tliis impossibihty arises not from the subject^ 
but from the inabihty of the agent. Those things 
which are impossible to man, may be possible to a 
higher order of intelligent beings ; and those things 
which are impossible to them are possible to God. 
The highest orders of created beings have, w^ithout 
doubt, their moral impossibilities, which submit to 
that power which is infinite ; though they must be 
such as nothing less than infinite power can over- 
come. .But, when we make our appeal to that 
power, which is unlimited, infinite, and eternal ; no- 
thing but that which involves an absolute contradict 
tion can be impossible with it. It is in relation to 
this power that we must consider the resurrection 
of the body ; and while we form our estimate of 
those difficulties which attend the fact, we must con- 
sider whether they amount to an absolute impossi- 
bility, or only to an impossibility which is moral. 
Because, how much soever the nature of any fact 
may be placed beyond our ability, either to accom- 
plish or to comprehend, if it include not any con- 
tradiction within it, no argument whate^^er can mili- 
tate against the possibility of the fact, or preclude us 
from admitting it amongst the number of possible 
cases, and of giving it a place in our belief. 

We have now before us a case, divested of all 
local prejudices ; and we enter a region which rises 
superior to the sphere of man. The possibility of 
tlie resurrection is the question which we have be- 



^ect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 34^ 

fore us ; and this only becomes a question, as it 
applies to the power of almighty God. 

That God has created, we cannot doubt ; why 
tiien may he not restore ? He has preserved through 
a century, why may he not preserve the same beings 
through two, through five, or even through eternity ? 
The same power which can preserve a system of 
matter through any limited duration, can w^ithoirt 
all doubt preserve it through that duration which 
is without limits. The power which has preserved 
the body hitherto in its probationary state, must 
have been hmited to time ; but the same being who 
has limited his operations to time, can without 
doubt exert the operations of his power during 
eternity. And, if limited exertions of omnipotent 
power can preserve a compounded body through a 
limited period ; the same power, if exerted without 
limits, must preserve the same compounded body 
dirough an unlimited duration ; and that which is 
preserved through an unlimited duration, must ne- 
cessarily continue for ever. 

If the resurrection of the body be impossible ; the 
impossibility must arise either from the subject or 
the agent. It must be either because the materials 
of wiiich the body is composed, contain within them- 
selves something which is hostile to life, and incon- 
sistent with the perpetuity of duration ; or because 
there is a defect in that power, by which it is pre- 
sumed to be accomplished. The will of God is not 
included in the present question ; it is a point which 
belongs rather to the probability, than to the mere 
possibility of the fact. 

That there is nothing in the materials themselves, 



350 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII, 

hostile to life, and inconsistent with a resurrection, 
appears evident from what we have already seen ; 
and from the knowledge which we have of matter. 
A system of organized matter has already been 
called into existence ; and the power which has been 
exerted, though limited in duration, has been ade- 
quate to the preservation of such beings as ourselves 
in existence, through a limited space. If, therefore, 
nothing existed in matter which forbade the continu- 
ance of man, through any given period ; nothing 
can exist in it which shall forbid its perpetuity, 
through a longer space than that of the life of man ; 
nothing can exist in matter itself, which can forbid 
tliat man should live for ever. 

The causes of death, and the natural tendency of 
all compounded bodies towards dissolution, we have 
already considered ; and we have seen, from the 
reasons there adduced, that these causes do not es- 
sentially inhere in matter^ but result from extraneous 
causes, which, if removed, would leave it in its ori- 
ginal and passive state. The body of Adam, with- 
out all doubt, was in tliat peculiar situation, in which 
the influence of extrinsic causes was counteracted : 
and no question can be made, though his body was 
material like our own, that he was totally exempted 
from dissolution and decay. We may, therefore, 
from hence make this inference ; that, as the human 
body is now preserved in existence through a limit- 
ed space, and as the body of Adam, if moral evil had 
never entered into the world, must have been immor- 
tal ; nothing inconsistent with perpetual life can be 
included in those materials of which the human 
body is composed. 



Sect. L] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 351 

When we take into our account, a power which 
is unUmited, and in our views, apply that power to 
the nature of possibihties, we are led to this con- 
clusion, that whatever has once been in existence, 
cannot be placed beyond the possibility of exist- 
ence now : for, nothing which has once been possible, 
can ever become impossible. This conclusion ne- 
cessarily arises from the nature of infinite power, and 
the immutability of truth. 

As, therefore, a system of atoms is now in ac- 
tual existence, so constituted as to be endued with 
life ; and, as there was a period, in which that 
system was endowed with immortality ; it is cer- 
tain from the observations alreadv made, that no- 
thing can communicate to matter, whether we con- 
sider it in its simple state, or under the modifica- 
tions which now are, or which have ever been, any- 
contradictory qualities which it has not always pos- 
sessed. What it has not already acquired, it never . 
can acquire, (unless we presume the essence to be 
changed, which is foreign to the case under consi- 
deration,) it therefore never can be removed further 
from the influence of that power which at first call- 
ed it into being, and moulded it into man, than it 
has already been ; and consequently, it can never 
acquire a greater hostility to perpetual life, than that 
which it has always had, which it now has, and 
\v^hich, we are assured, from the most indubitable 
evidences, has been already subdued. 

If then, matter cannot acquire any such hostile 
qualities which it does not now possess, and which 
it has not always possessed; and if these hostile 
qualities are paitially subdued in us, and were to- 



S52 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

tally subdued in Adam ; we are fully satisfied, that 
the resurrection of the body cannot be an impossi- 
ble fact, in consequence of any thing which may be 
deemed repugnant in matter. For, even though 
the real essence of matter be unknown, and though 
inertness be inseparable from all its parts ; yet the 
principles upon which this conclusion is founded, 
still remain unshaken. Nothing that is impossible 
now, can ever become possible to matter, as it 
stands opposed to infinite power, through any 
changes which it may undergo, or through any qua- 
lities which it may acquire. Nothing, therefore, 
can ever arise within it, more opposed to the resur- 
rection of the body, than those qualities which it 
now possesses ; and these qualities have already 
been overruled, and matter in all forms has yielded 
submission to power. If, therefore, any thing can 
render the resurrection impossible, it must arise 
from a deficiency in that power, by which alone the 
great event can be accomplished. This is the next 
point to be examined. 

That the power by wliich the resurrection is to 
be accomplished, cannot include within it any de- 
ficiency, must be admitted ; because this power is 
ascribed to God. That God possesses all power, 
is necessarily implied in omnipotence ; and will 
admit neither contradiction nor denial; nothing, 
therefore, which includes within it no contradiction, 
can be impossible to him. 

To suppose that God, who is infinite in power, 
can be deficient in power, is a conception, which 
not only impeaches his omnipotence, but involves a 
positive contradiction. It supposes a possibility of 



Sect. I.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 353 

power which God has not ; while, by admitting his 
omnipotence, we suppose all possible power to be 
included in the term. If, therefore, God be omni- 
potent, and is yet deficient in power, he must pos- 
sess all power ^ and not possess it at the same time. 
But, since this contradiction cannot possibly be 
admitted, it follows, that all possible power must be 
possessed by God, and that power which is not pos- 
sible, can have no kind of existence. Every thing, 
therefore, except that which involves a plain contra- 
diction, is possible to God ; and that which in- 
volves a contradiction, is not power, nor can it be 
an object of it. The conclusion, therefore, must 
follow, that there can be no deficiency in the power 
of God, and consequently, that he is able to raise the 
dead. 

In this view, the possibility of the resurrection of 
the body cannot be controverted, unless the sup- 
posed fact itself involve a contradiction ; because, 
from the reasonings which have been already addu- 
ced, no deficiency of power can attach to God ; 
and nothing of an opposite nature, which that power 
is unable to subdue, can reside in those bodies which 
are to be raised. 

That the resurrection does not include within it 
any contradiction, is evident from those changes to 
which matter has already submitted, and from that 
life which God has communicated to all ani- 
mal substances. And where power is without 
limits, and operates upon a subject which is unable 
to resist its influence, and in which nothing contra- 
dictory to the event designed, can be included ; no- 
Bbb 



354 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII> 

thing of an impossible nature can be presumed to 
reside. 

As then, nothing can be deficient in the power, 
and nothing can be obstructing, no formidable ob- 
jection can remain : and, therefore, the resurrec- 
tion of the body can afford no grounds for those 
doubts which might be started on the impossibility 
of the case. Nothing can be beyond the reach of 
infinite power, but what is absolutely impossible ; 
and nothing can be absolutely impossible, but what 
includes a contradiction ; but, as the resurrection of 
the body does not involve any contradiction, it can- 
not be impossible, it must therefore be placed within 
the reach of that power which resides in God. 

And, as nothing contradictory to the fact can ex- 
ist in the subject, and nothing defective can be at- 
tributed to that power, by which the event is pre- 
sumed to be accomplished ; the resurrection of the 
body must be admitted as a possible case,' if God 
should be so pleased to exert his power. Power 
that is, infinite, must be sufficient to preserve our 
bodies in existence, either in their present form, or 
in any other which God shall see meet ; and, as no . 
period can be set to its operations, it must necessa- 
rily extend to eternity. But, whether we have any 
reason to believe that God will thus exert his power 
towards us, will conduct us to the regions of proba- 
bility, and must therefore be tlie subject of the next 
section. 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



SECT. II. 

That the Resurrection of the Human Body is highly- 
probable, from a Train of Presumptive and Ana- 
logical Evidence. 

In the preceding section, we have considered the 
resurrection in no other hght than that of a possible 
case. In that view we have taken a survey of mat- 
ter, and examined those probable obstructions, 
through which alone we had any reason to expect, 
that the possibility of the resurrection could be de- 
feated ; and we see nothing which can lay an embar- 
go on our belief. From matter, we have turned our 
thoughts to power, and have found that nothing is in- 
cluded in the doctrine of the resurrection which ap- 
pears either contradictory or absurd. The manner 
(it is true) in which the fact shall be accomplished, is 
a subject too vast for the grasp of our most vigorous 
powers ; it exceeds our most enlarged comprehen- 
sion ; and on these accounts becomes rather an ar- 
ticle of faith than of knowledge. 

From those views, we turn to a nearer inspection 
of the subject ; and, what w^e then only viewed as 
possible in the preceding section, w^e shall consider 
as probable in this. 

In considering the possibility of the fact, as it 
stood in relation to God, we made no appeal to any 
attribute but that of power. In that consideration. 



556 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

we rather surveyed matter in its modifications, than 
turned our thoughts more immediately to man. In 
the view before us, we lose sight of those distant re- 
gions, and direct our inquiries into that relation 
^vherein we stand to God, in a moral capacity ; and 
in this light we must behold him as the moral Go- 
vernor of the universe ; guided in all his actions by 
those moral attributes, which are inseparable from his 
nature.* 

* When we turn our thoughts towards God, we frequently 
divide his attributes into two distinct classes, the former of 
these we call essential attributes^ and the latter we denomi- 
nate moral. In the former class we include, his Omnifiotence^ 
his Immensity.^ his Immutability^ his Omniscience, Sind his Eter^ 
nity ; and in the latter, we include his Holiness, his Justice^ 
his Goodness, his Mercy, and his Love. 

This mode of dividing the attributes of Go8, though just in 
itself, is certainly liable to much misconception ; and, perhaps, 
these misconceptions can scarcely be placed in a more injuri- 
ous light than in the case which we have now before us ; be- 
cause it is chiefly to what are termed the moral attributes of 
God, that I shall now appeal. 

The division of these attributes of Deity, which has been 
above stated, seems, by denominating the former class " essen- 
tial attributes'^ to imply, that the latter are not essential to 
God ; but, that they existed in an arbitrary manner, and could 
be dispensed with at pleasure. But this, without doubt, is an 
erroneous notion. It commences an attack upon those attri- 
butes which we denominate essential, and in fact, tends to 
Atheism. 

Every attribute which belongs to God, is essential to him; 
by what name soever it may be known, in the languages of 
mankind. And we can no more conceive, that God can ex- 
ist without his Justice, his Holiness, his Goodness, his Mercy, 
trnd his Love ; than we can conceive that he can exist without 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 357 

The question, which now presents itself before 
us, is not what man can either accomplish, or com- 
prehend ; but what God, consistently with his . jus- 

any of those attributes, which we denominate essential. Let 
us only suppose for a moment, that either of these attributes 
were to be annihilated ; into what a dreadful abyss should we 
immediately plunge ourselves, while pursuing our reasonings ! 
If Justice were destroyed, we must have a God unjust. If his 
Goodness were destroyed, he could confer no favours. If his 
Holiness were destroyed, he could possess no purity ; and if ei- 
ther his Mercy or his Love were destroyed, he could not p-os' 
sidly possess 2l\ possible perfection. That being, therefore, 
which could be destitute of any perfection, could not be infinite : 
and, consequently, all those attributes which we denominate 
essential, would immediately be found inapplicable to God. 
On these accounts, we are under a necessity of concluding, 
that those attributes which we denominate moral must be as 
inseparable from the Divine nature, as those are which we de- 
nominate essential. And we can no more conceive, that the 
Deity can exist without the one, than that he can exist without 
the other; without involving ourselves in difficulties, from 
which we shall not be able to escape. 

The reason, in all probability, why the attributes of God 
were thus distinguished by the appellations of essential and 
morale was, that they might be better accommodated to 
the condition and to the understanding of man. In this 
view, the attributes which we perceive in God, are evidently 
distinguished from one another. The former class is evidently 
incommunicable to any finite being whatsoever; because finite 
would then become infinite. But the latter class God has been 
pleased to communicate to created beings, in a limited manner. 
These moral excellencies are now possessed by angels ; they 
were once possessed by man, and will be inseparable from the 
spirits of just men made perfect, through eternity ; and will 
render themselves visible, as far as that condition of being can 
give them an opportunity of operating, for ever. 

In the present condition of human nature, the case, how- 



358 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

tice, and guided by that compassion which knows 
no bounds, may reasonably be expected to per- 
form. When we turn our thoughts to that Good- 
72ess, that Mercy, that Justice, and that Love, 
which reside as a constellation of perfections in 
God ; what may we not expect ! Nothing can be 
too great for Injinite Power to perform, nothing can 
be too extensive for infinite Mercy and Goodness 
to bestow ; and nothing but that which is unjust, 
have we any reason to fear, that infinite justice will 
refuse. 

ever, is far otherwise. The former class of the divine attri- 
butes, we are assured, can never be communicated to any crea- 
ture ; and the latter, though communicated, has been unhap- 
pily lost. We are now awfully convinced, that those attributes 
which we have denominated moral, are by no means insepara- 
ble from man. They are communications from God, which 
apply to our moral conduct, and they are intimately connected 
with our manner of existence hereafter, without interfering 
with existence itself. Hence then, I presum.e they have been 
denominated moral attributes, in God, because in a moral view 
they apply to man, and are intimately connected with his hap- 
piness or misery, when time shall commence eternity. 

But though with man those moral attributes have been to- 
tally lost ; it does not follow that they can be lost with God. 
He is a being of infinite perfection, and on that account can 
never be destitute of moral jierfection ; it is absurd, nay, it is 
impious in the highest degree to suppose it. The conclusion, 
therefore, appears at once both fair and inevitable, that the 
moral perfections of God are as inseparable from his nature, as 
those attributes are which we have been accustomed to deno- 
minate essential. And we have no more conception that either 
of these moral excellencies can be taken from God, his infi- 
nite perfections and existence still remaining, than we can 
conceive, that im7ncnsity can have limits, or that omnipotence 
can lose its power. 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. S59 

Consistently with his moral perfections, God caii 
raise the dead ; and both his justice and mercy in« 
struct us to expect the great event. In the pro- 
ductions of nature, we behold an analogy which 
tends to enliven our hopes ; and the changes, which 
insects and vegetation perpetually undergo, give 
us an assurance which could not be designed to 
mock us with delusive expectations. A state of 
rewards and punishments awaits the spirits of the 
departed ; and those conceptions which we have of 
justice, induce us to expect that the material part- 
ners of these spirits shall bear their respective por- 
tions, either in punishments or rewards. 

The imperfections which appear in the moral 
government of God, are irreconcileable with his 
attributes here ; and to solve the difficulties which 
associate with the Divine conduct, we are obliged 
to have recourse to another life. The rewards and 
punishments of another state, which are intimately 
connected with the actions of the present life, must 
be founded upon justice ; and can only apply to the 
individual to whom the various actions belonged. 
In many cases, the actions of our lives include 
both soul and body ; and we can have no very 
favourable notion of that justice, which shall re- 
ward the spirit and neglect the body ; or which 
shall in the same moment administer punishment 
to the soul, and permit the body to moulder in the 
grave. We are forbidden by our judgments to 
assent to a train of sentiments, from which our rea- 
son revolts, and which obliges us to place the justice 



360 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VU. 

of God in a situation, which will admit of no de- 
fence. 

The certainty of an hereafter, is a necessary con- 
sequence of the justice of God ; and the same argu- 
ments, which will convince us of rewards and pun- 
ishments, will oblige us to admit the resurrection of 
the body, as a companion, which justice obliges us 
to associate with the immaterial spirit. 

The body and soul having acted in union with 
each other, in these regions of mortality, have an 
equal claim upon divine justice ; and are alike the 
objects of mercy and compassion. And the same 
reasons, which can induce us to believe, that jus- 
tice can continue unimpeached in its character, 
though it reward the soul and neglect the body ; 
would induce us to believe that it could retain its 
name and nature, though it were to neglect the soul 
likewise, and abandon man altogether. The dis- 
tance between nothing and the body is greater than 
that which lies between the body and the souL 
And, if we can believe that God can neglect the 
body altogether, and yet remain inflexibly just; 
we have no reason whatever to believe that he will 
be unjust, in utterly neglecting the soul. And, if 
both body and soul may be neglected, and that 
for ever, without involving any injustice on the 
part of God ; all our hopes and fears are at an end. 
We can no longer look to justice, either for punish- 
ments or rewards, with that confidence which alone 
can influence our actions ; nor look, from that 
source, for any recompense of punishment beyond 



S6ct. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 361 

the grave, for those afflictions or vices which have 
marked our conduct in the present state. 

Let rewards and punishments be annihilated, and 
man is no longer an accountable being ; and the im- 
mediate consequence is, that all distinction between 
vice and virtue, as it applies to man, is totally done 
away. This consequence opens the door to the 
indulgence of every guilty passion ; and while it 
tends to increase the catalogue of human enormities, 
it shields the delinquent from the dread of punish- 
ment, and stifles the anguish of remorse. It hardens 
crime into impenitency, gives a sanction to every 
vice, and banishes virtue from the world. 

But, it is useless to trace a pernicious principle, 
through consequences to which there is no end. A 
principle which leads to such eifects and consequen- 
ces, must be radically bad ; and in point of fact it 
must be utterly false ; and in either case ought not to 
be admitted. 

As, therefore, these consequences must follow, if 
no distinction between vice and virtue were to re- 
main ; and as no such distinction can remain, un- 
less we have respect unto another life ; and no re- 
spect can be had unto another life unless God be 
immutably just ; and as, that immutable justice can- 
not be made satisfactorily visible in punishing the 
soul and neglecting the body ; we have strong rea- 
son to believe that the body must bear its part also 
in a state of future punishments and rewards ; and 
therefore the body must rise again from the grave. 

We must be fully satisfied that unpunished vice, 
either in time or eternity, cannot be reconciled with 

' C cc 



362 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

the justice of God. And, we can no more reconcile 
that conduct with Divine justice, which punishes 
the soul for those actions which the body assisted in 
committing, w^hile that body escapes punishment ; 
then we can, if God were to suffer the guilty to go 
unpunished altogether. 

That the body has been guilty of immoral actions, 
while it acted in conjunction with the soul, will ad- 
mit of no dispute ; and, if it exist not beyond the 
grave, that which has been guilty of immoral ac-. 
tion must go unpunished. It will not obviate the 
objection, to say that punishment is inflicted upon 
the soul. Partners in iniquity, cannot, in point of 
justice, make a transfer of their guilt. If the body, 
which is guilty, can be exempted from punishment, 
because misery had been inflicted on the soul ; jus- 
tice must, in this case, relinquish its claims without 
any equivalent, and the real delinquent must go 
free. If justice can discharge the body from pu- 
nishment ; no satisfactor}^ reason can be assigned, 
why it may not on the same principle discharge tlie 
soul. And, if both body and soul, though guilty, 
can be discharged from punishment ; punishment 
cannot be a necessary result of justice ; and that 
which is not just, cannot be performed by God. 
All punishment must, therefore, be arbitrary ; and 
that which is arbitrary can have no respect to pre- 
vious actions. And that punishment, which is in- 
flicted without any regard to previous actions, must 
necessarily be unjust. And that principle, which 
charges God with injustice, must necessa.rily be 
fiJsc. 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. S63 

If, therefore, that principle must be false, which 
charges God wich injustice ; and, if that action 
must be unjust, which inflicts punishment without 
any respect to previous conduct ; if that which has 
no respect to previous conduct must necessarih^ be 
arbitraiy ; and if that which is ai'bitrary, may dis- 
charge the delinquent without an equivalent ; and 
if that wliich thus discharges the delinquent cannot 
be founded upon necessary justice ; and if that 
w^hich cannot be founded upon necessary justice, 
cannot be from God; it follows, that punishment 
is a necessary effect of justice, and that the delin- 
quent cannot be discharged. And as (in the case 
of the finally impenitent) both body and soul are in 
a state of delinquency ; and no delinquency can be 
■discharged, because punishment is a necessary effect 
of justice ; it also follows, that the body must rise 
from the tomb. 

Thus then, the resurrection of the body becomes 
highly probable from the nature of the Divine attri- 
butes; and from that relation in which the body 
stands to the moral justice of God. The moral 
condition of man enforces our belief of the resurrec- 
tion ; it is a fact which corresponds with our feel- 
ings, and is equally a dictate of our wishes, and of 
our judgments, of our hopes, and of our fears. 

The apparent inequalities of man ; the imperfec- 
tions which appear in the administration of justice ; 
the triumphs of vice, and the adversities and afHic- 
tions of virtue ; are all invincible claims upon the 
moral justice of God, for a dispensation of perfec- 
tion in another state. Hence our vie\^s are directed 



364 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap, vn, 

to look forward to a period, in which the present 
clouds shall be swept aside ; and in which God 
shall vindicate his ways to man. If that future dis- 
pensation approach not towards perfection, with 
greater nearness than the present ; we have no just 
foundation for our hopes ; and, if that dispensation 
to which we look, includes within it a greater degree 
of perfection than this which we now possess ; how 
can we conceive that the body can remain unnoticed, 
and be left behind ? The body is closely connected 
with the spirit, by various but inconceivable ties ; and 
we can have no conception of any perfection which 
can apply to man, that excludes the body from hav- 
ing a part. Perfection, as it applies to man, must 
include his nature ; but we can have only faint con- 
ceptions of that perfection of the nature of man, 
which suffers his body to moulder for ever in the 
tomb. Even the perfections of a brighter dispensa- 
tion, which the imperfections of the present world 
ensure, point out unto us the necessity of a resur- 
rection ; and we learn from that injustice which 
sometimes deprives of life, that God will raise the 
dead. 

Hitherto, w^e have chiefly confined our observa- 
tions to the condition of the guilty, and the moral 
and retributive justice of God. From these we have 
seen much probable evidence to induce our belief, 
that a resurrection of their bodies must take place. 
It is only in this view, that we can conceive justice 
to be inseparable from the nature of God, and inca- 
pable of exposing itself to reproach, either through 
misapplication or neglect. But, ia admitting the 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 355 

resurrection of the body to take place, all is harmo- 
nious and uniform ; no chasms appear ; the attri- 
butes of Deity shine forth in all their splendour; 
and we see a foundation for human hopes and fears. 
In admitting the resurrection, we discover how 
time and eternity are linked together ; and that the 
morality and immorality of human actions, have an 
intimate connexion with the present life. In ad- 
mitting this fact we discover justice in all the ways 
of God ; and discern the foundation of those re- 
wards and punishments which await our actions be- 
yond the grave. Through this we penetrate those 
shadows which encircle human life, enlarge the ho- 
rizon of our views, and trace immutable justice to 
the throne of God. 

But, a survey of justice and guilt is not the only 
prospect which the attributes of God afford. If 
we turn our thoughts to compassion and love, and 
view those sources of consolation to the saints of 
God ; what reason can they have to doubt, that he 
will raise their bodies at the last day ? It is unrea- 
sonable to suppose that the wicked have more to 
fear from punishment, than the righteous have to 
hope from reward. The rigour of justice cannot 
exceed the kindness of mercy ; the righteous have 
therefore as firm and lasting a foundation on which 
to rest their hopes, as the guilty have to confirm their 
fears. 

fFhat shall we say to these things ? If God be 
for us, who shall be against us P He that spared 
not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all^ 



566 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

how shall he not with him freely give us all things ? 
Shall he not give the body which is the temple of 
the Holy Ghost ? And if he give the body must he 
not raise it from the grave ? If the bodies of the 
righteous rise not, Divine mercy must be less effica- 
cious than Divine justice ; but this cannot be recon- 
ciled with the known attributes of God. If mercy 
be less efficacious than justice, how could the claim 
of justice be satisfied with the interposition of mer- 
cy ? How, in this case, on the score of redemption, 
could mercy begin to operate, and bring the culprit 
from darkness to light, and from hell to heaven ? 
These circumstances prove the superior efficacy of 
mercy, and serve to point out the unbounded love of 
God, The whole stream of redemption points out 
unto us the infinitude of Divine love, and places the 
compassion of God in a most exalted light. Re- 
demption gives us every thing to hope ; it leaves 
nothing to fear ; it promises to give us all things ; 
and consequently, will raise the body, though it 
moulder in the tomb. 

If then the efficacy of mercy be equal to that of 
justice, and even superior when we view it in re- 
demption ; and if justice ensures to the finally im- 
penitent, a resurrection of their bodies from the dust 
of death ; the evidence becomes convincing, that 
the bodies of the righteous shall rise again. 

If then the bodies of the wicked shall rise again, 
through justice, and the bodies of the righteous 
through mercy ; the grave must gi^^e up her dead, 
and the sea must give up the dead which arc therein ; 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. S67 

so that uot a single body can remain to people the 
territories of death. For, since the righteous and 
the wicked include the whole of the human race, 
and these must respectively rise again ; the argu- 
ment taken in both its parts, includes Adam and all 
his posterity in one enlarged embrace. 

Tlirough every department of the gospel, the 
beams of mercy appear to benefit mankind. We 
cannot therefore suppose, that the gift of God could 
ever be designed to neglect that body, which even 
justice would restore again to life. It is peculiar to 
mercy to excite our hopes, and to enliven us with 
confidence ; while love^ calculated to awaken our 
affections in proportion to our conviction of benefits 
received, either in reality or promise, fills our minds 
with the fullest persuasion that no deception can 
finally blast our views. 

The strong intimations which the production of 
grain affords us of an approaching resurrection, have 
been already noticed : and those changes which 
birds and reptiles, and insects, and animalcula un- 
dergo, it would be almost endless to enumerate. 
Yet every change v\ hich we perceive in either state, 
is a change which verges towards perfection in all 
its parts. The revolution which animal life under- 
goes, in different seasons of the year, and in different 
stages of its being, alwa3^s conducts the creature 
\vhich sustains the change to a more exalted state 
than that vv^hich it had forsaken. Even the earth 
itself becomes renewed with vigour, through those 
variatioas ^vhich mark her progress round the sun ; 



368 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

and we are taught from constant observation, that 
the perfection of created beings and things does not 
so much consist in permanency, as in perpetual 
change. Perfection in a state of permanency seems 
only appUcable to God. To him no future pros- 
pects can appear ; and however strange it may 
seem, it is one of the perfections of God that in him 
hope cannot exist. On the contrary, if hope were 
now taken from the ingredients of the cup of life, we 
should have nothing left behind but the bitterness 
of despair. We may learn from hence, that the 
perfection of Deity is contrary to the perfection of 
man ; that, of the former, must consist in indepen- 
dence and stability ; and that of the latter, in de- 
pendence and change. 

The process of vegetation, to which the resurrec- 
tion of the body has been compared by St. Paul, 
has also been touched upon by the prophet Isaiah, 
in his twenty- sixth chapter. He says in verse the 
nineteenth. Thy dead men shall live, together with 
my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sirig, 
ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew 
of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead. 

The Jews were not insensible of the analogy to 
the vegetative process, which these WDrds contain ; 
and the influence of their persuasions led them to 
conclude from the passage above quoted, that a re- 
surrection of the body would finally take place*. 
" To this, say the Jews, (as Mr. Gregory observes) in 
the book Zohar, That at the last day a kind of plastic 
dew shall fall upon the dead, and engender with 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY 369 

Luz,^ a little bone ; and so out of this all the rest 
of our bones, and the whole man shall spring forth." 

* In the course of writing this essay, a variety of difficulties 
occurred to my mind on many topics, which it became neces- 
sary for me to touch. Unwilling to venture too far on my own 
opinion, I have proposed my questionable points to some 
learned friends, with whom I have both the happiness and ho- 
nour to be acquainted. To some of these questions I have re- 
ceived satisfactory answers ; answers which have given me 
considerable information, and urged me to perseverance in my 
undertaking. At other times, where I have not received any 
considerable information, a concurrence of opinion has tended 
to strengthen my own ; a solitary hint has tended to confirm 
me in my former habits of reflection, and given a decided bias 
to a sentiment which before only wavered in suspense. 

On the subject to which this note refers, I beg leave to pre- 
sent my readers with an extract of a letter, which I received 
from my much respected friend, Dr. Adam Clarke. " That 
there is a radical material principle, or germ, in the human 
body, which constitutes its identity, I cannot doubt. If I am 
not mistaken, I see this laid down, and not obscurely, in the sa- 
cred writings ; and that it has been a very ancient doctrine of 
the most ancient people in the world, I have plenary evidence. 
How the Jews may have trifled with it, is of small concern to 
the grand object of inquiry ; but that they held the things and 
even pretended to say in %vhat it consisted, are notoriously evi- 
dent from their oldest writings, the sacred scriptures excepted. 
" Now, as a copy implies an original from which it was made, 
so an opinion of this kind, which evidently lies beyond the 
bounds of human inquiry, seems to indicate that there was an 
original revelation, or authentic tradition, concerning the thing 
in question. Lest the Jewish opinion, and the evidence by 
which it is supported (to which I have alluded above,) should 
not come within your notice, I will here give it as much iu 
detail as I judge necessary for your purpose. 

D d d 



370 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

" But we are not to give heed to Jewish fables, 
and therefore it shall not be here inquired, who 
shall be the father of this rain, or should beget these 
drops of dew ; sure we are, that though touched by 
death we shrink up like the sensitive plant ; yet we 
shall soon be quickened by his influence, whose 
head is filled with dew, and his locks with the dew 
of the night, ^'' 

*' In exprobation, therefore, unto death and mor- 
tality, we know whose custom it was to bury their 
dead in their gardens ; sewing their bodies with as 
much faith as their fruits, and equally expecting the 
spring of botli. It is for no other reason that we 
ourselves stick our hearses with flowers, and go 
forth to the grave with rosemary. Our precedents 
w^ere the Jews, whose ancient custom it was by the 

The Chaldee word Luz t'j'' which signifies an almond, al' 
mond tree, and the hazel, is also used by the Rabbins to signify 
a certain bone in the human skeleton, which is incorruptible^ and, 
out of which they suppose the resurrection body will be formed, 

" In the talmudical tract called Zohar, we find the following 
curious assertions concerning this point. 

" Behold a certain bone which remains incorruptible in man, 
even under the earth, this bone is like a mass of leaven, and by 
it the holy and blessed God shall re-edify the whole body. 

" Rabbi Eliezar says, Luz is one of the bones of the human 
spine, which cannot be consumed, and never can corrupt ; the 
radix of the bone is from heaven itself, and is moistened with 
dew, out of which God shall sometime call the dead to life. It 
is as leaven in the mass of meal. 

" In a Rabbinical lexicon, termed Baal Aruch, it is said, 
Luz is a small bone at the end of the eighteenth vetebre : the 
whole body goes into corruption, this bone excepted. It is 
gimil/ir to an almond. 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 371 

way as they went with corpses, to pluck up every 
one, the grass, as who should say, they were not 
sorry as men without hope ; for as much as their 

" In Vayikra Rabba, section eighteenth, Yakut on the 
twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, are the following words : 
< Hadrian Caezar asked Rabbi Joshua, the son of Chanina, 

* How can God raise up man in the world to come V Rabbi 
Joshua answered, * From the bone Luz out of the spine.' 

* Hoio can I be assured of this, says Hadrian P* ' They then 
brought one of these bones before him, on which they poured 
water, but it was not softened thereby ; they put it in the fire, 
but it was not burnt ; they put it between millstones, but it 
was not reduced to powder. They placed it on an anvil, and 
struck it with a hammer, but though the anvil was split with 
the blow, yet the bone received no injury.* 

" In Bereshith Rabba (a large commentary on the book 
of Genesis) section twenty-eighth, the same thing is related, and 
it is added there — * that in order to prevent the wicked ante- 
diluvians from the benefit of the resurrection, the holy and 
blessed God universally destroyed the bone Luz.* So much 
for the Jewish trifling on the subject. 

" The bone which is intended in the above quotations, is 
evidently the os coccygis, the lower small terminating bone of 
the spme. Would it not be worth while to let the Rabbins 
lead us to the grave-yard, that we might search and see whe- 
ther this bone be found remaining after the dissolution of the 
rest ? That the ancient Jews held the thing, is all I wished 
to prove ; their trifling on the subject does not affect the 
ground of the inquiry. See Buxtorf's Lex. voc. nS. 

" Whether this germ be in the os coccygis or not, it is cer- 
tainly somewhere, though probably not so apparent as in the 
Rabbinical Luz. 

" Permit me to add, the doctrine of germs has opened a new 
world of wonders in philosophy ; it has developed a multitude 
of things previously inscrutable, in organized vegetable sub- 
stances ; — why may it not be extended to organized animal 
matter ? From their inherent germs it is demonstrable, that 



srs IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII 

brother was but so cropped off and should spring up 
again in his due season. 

"We may take an omen (continues Gregory) of 
our rising again, from the time of our Saviour's 
resurrection. The first fruits rose in the spring, 
which is the time (saith Senator Manihus) wherein 
the phoenix riseth out of her ashes. It is the time 
also wherein the Egyptians celebrate their annual 
resurrection. We shall take this, however, but as a 
staiF of Egypt, a broken reed, or but such an one as 
Gehazi laid upon the dead child. But the Master 
Cometh shortly, and shall command the breath to 
come from the four winds, and breathe upon our 
slain; and then these bones shall live." [Sermon 
on the Resurrection^ by Gregory^ p. 11.) 

It is to this powerful and invigorating breath of 
Heaven, that we must finally look for that awaken- 
ing energy, w^hich shall quicken our mortal bodies, 
and endow them with strength that shall know no 
decay. For, although in pursuing the subject of 
our inquiry, the process 9f nature holds out unto us 
an example, which shews the way, and which, in all 
probability, supplies us with an analogy complete 
in all its parts, yet the quickening power belongs to 
God. 

The power of action in all possible forms, must 
have originated, and must continue to originate in 

the identity of plants is preserved ; analogy says, it may be 
the same in organized animal substances. 

" For a further confirmation of the opinion of the Jews on 
the resurrection, sec 2 INlaccabees, vii. v. 9, 11, 14, 22, 23." 



Sect. II.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 373 

God. The laws of nature are only mediums 
through which he acts. Vegetation is a display of 
infinite power, directing its energy through second 
causes, which sometimes, to a superficial observer, 
conceals the real eificient cause. But, the hand of 
God is really as much present in these common 
events, as in those, in which no natural cause ap- 
pears. And, when we speak of the works of na- 
ture, and of the works of God, the only distinction 
which can really exist, is, that in the former case, 
God works by means, and in the latter without 
them. But whether means be used or not, the ac- 
tive power must be ascribed to God. 

When, therefore, we thus take a survey of the Al- 
mighty God, and consider him as possessed of infi» 
nite power, of infinite Justice, Goodness, Holiness-^ 
Mercy, and Love, and view him in all these attri- 
butes, manifesting himself towards mankind, our 
hopes are not presumptuous, if they lead us to ex- 
pect, that God will raise the dead. 

Under those circunistances on which God has 
been pleased to place us, we must stifle our convic- 
tions, and argue against our own persuasions ; if, 
after having examined those intimations which are 
placed within our reach, we refuse our assent to the 
important fact. That such an event is at once pos- 
sible and congenial to our feelings, to our wishes 
and our hopes, we must admit ; it therefore has in 
it greater weight than those objections by which it 
can be opposed. 

But our knowledge of the possibility of a fact, 
even though it should coincide with our wishes and 



$r^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

our hopes, is far from being conclusive ; the mind 
fluctuates in indecision on such an occasion, and 
seeks after other evidence to fix it at a point. A 
train of probable circumstances is ready at hand, 
drawn from our most obvious concerns, and from 
scenes with which we are daily conversant. Pro- 
babilities swarm around us on eycry side. Vegeta- 
tive and animal life give us examples, which are in 
unison with our expectations ; and the attributes of 
God confirm the convictions, which probable evi- 
dence begets. But, evidence of a more command- 
ing nature still remains ; it is superior in its effi- 
cacy, but congenial in its kind with what we have 
already seen, and it presents itself before us in the 
next section. 

SECT. III. 

That the Resurrection of the Human Body is 
certain^ proved from the Principles of Philoso- 
phy^ the Justice of Gody and the compounded 
Nature of Man, 

We have said, in the preceding section, that we 
can have no satisfactory conceptions of the Divine 
justice, without having recourse to another life ; 
and we can have no conception of another life, with- 
out including in that idea, those rewards and punish- 
ments which await the righteous and the guilty in 
those awful abodes. 

Rewards and punishments are intimately connect- 



Sect, ni.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 375 

ed with the attributes of God ; and the same argu- 
ments which will prove that man is a moral agent, 
will prove that he must survive the grave. The 
manner of our future being is, therefore, the only 
question which can now remain ; because the fact 
itself is too obvious to be denied. 

If rewards and punishments be administered be- 
yond the grave, they must be administered to man; 
and if to man, both body and soul must be pre- 
served, because, both natures ai'e essentially neces- 
sary to his existenv;e. The identity of our persons 
consists in the union of our compounded nature ; 
this identity must therefore be lost, if the whole of 
our corporeal frames are permitted for ever to 
moulder in the regions of dissolution, or are tossed 
with the winds of heaven. The resurrection of our 
bodies is, therefore, the necessary result of our be- 
ing ; and unless we take it into our account, we 
leave the nature of man in a state as remote from 
natural perfection, as we place the justice of God 
in a moral point of view, if neither rewards nor 
punishments succeed to the present life. 

Our souls and bodies are so intimately connect- 
ed in the present life, that they mutually influence 
each other; and through that secret union which 
subsists between them, they perform a variety of 
actions, of which, neither soul nor body was, nor can 
be, capable in its separate state. The supposition^ 
therefore, which induces us to believe, that the soul 
alone shall be either rewarded or punished, in ano- 
ther life, for actions, which as a simple substance, it 
neither did nor could possibly commit, is not only 



376 IDENTITY AND RKSURRFCTTON [Chap. VIL 

irreconcileable with our conception of equity, but 
utterly repugnant to every principle of justice. If, 
therefore, rewards and punishments be administered 
in another life, they must be administered to man ; 
and if administered to man, to whose being the 
union of matter and spirit is essentially necessary, 
the body must survive the grave. 

If the soul alone, upon a principle of retributive 
justice, can be either rewarded or punished in ano- 
ther life, for actions, which, separated from the 
body, it could not possibly commit ; justice must 
disproportion the punishment to the offence ; be- 
cause in this case, the punishment is for all the ac- 
tion while the crime consisted only in part. In this 
view, we behold more punishment than crime ; and 
consequently, the surplus of punishment cannot be 
just. If then, a single iota of punishment can be 
inflicted without an adequate proportion of offence, 
punishment may be inflicted where there is no 
crime ; and to suppose this to proceed from a prin- 
ciple of divine justice, we are under the necessity of 
making justice to become unjust. But, since it is 
impossible that justice can become unjust, it must 
also be impossible, that justice can inflict punish- 
ment without a crime ; and since punishment can- 
not be inflicted without crime, punishment cannot 
be disproportioned to the offence ; and as punish- 
ment cannot be disproportioned to the oftbnce, no 
punishment can be inflicted upon the soul for those 
actions which it could not possibly commit. We 
are, therefore, brought to this alternative, either, 
that no rewards and punishments shall be adminis- 



Sect. III.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 377 

tered, or that the body must rise again. That re- 
wards and punishments must be administered, is a 
necessary consequence of justice ; and the instant 
that we deny it, we malie justice to have no more 
than an arbitrary existence in God. If arbitrary, 
it may be dispensed with, and when dispensed with, 
God becomes unjust ; but, as this is absolutely im- 
possible, the consequence follows, that justice is 
inseparable from the Divine nature ; that rewards 
and punishments must be administered ; and the 
final effect is, that the human body must be raised 
again. 

To this argument I am not apprized of more than 
one objection, and that is, "that the rewards and 
punishments which will be administered to the soul, 
will only be in proportion to its own piety or crimi- 
nality, considered in a detached view, without liaving" 
any relation to the body." 

This objection has been already anticipated, and 
already answered in the preceding section. I will 
state the outlines of that reply, in direct application 
to the objection which has been started. 

If the punishments which are inflicted upon the 
soul, have no relation to those crimes which in its 
union with the body only it was able to commit, it 
then follows, that a portion of punishment still con- 
tinues in reserve. And this punishment which re- 
mains in reserve, must either be applicable to the 
body alone, or to the soul and body in union with 
each other; because, upon this ground alone, the 
objection is called forth. From this statement, it 
E e e 



378 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

undeniably follows, either that this portion of pu- 
nishment which remains in reservCy must never be 
inflicted, or that the body must be again restored to 
life. 

Having brought the argument to this state, a sim- 
ple process will decide the affair. The punishment 
which lies in reserve, must either be due, or it must 
not. If due, justice cannot withhold it; and there- 
fore, whether we consider the body separately, or 
in union with the soul, it must experience a resur- 
reetion ; if not due, the foundation of the objection 
is totally destroyed, and the former argument re* 
mains in all its force. And the final consequence is, 
whether we aditiit the objection or reject it, that a 
resurrection of the body must take place. In ad- 
mitting the objection, the answer which has been 
given must follow ; and in rejecting it^ the original 
ai'gument is unassailed. 

That God is uniformly governed by the rectitude 
of his nature, can no more be doubted, than we can 
doubt of his existence ; nothing, therefore, which is 
done by him, can possibly be unjust. The union 
of our souls and bodies in time, when viewed in re- 
lation to the Divine nature, ensures a renewal of 
that union in eternity. Justice is an immutable 
principle, w^hich no power can alter, no language 
overturn. If our actions here, either subject us to 
punishment, or entitle us to reward, it cannot be 
withheld ; if they do not, neither the former nor the 
latter can be administered consistently with justicCj 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. S79 

and that which cannot be done consistently with jus- 
tice, cannot come from God. 

The body must be imphcated in this decision, as 
w^ell as the soul. In conjunction with the soui, it 
participated in actions which involved moral conse- 
quences ; and justice can no more be remiss in the 
one case thaii in the other. In its nature, it must be 
of universal application ; and can know no distinc- 
tion between spirit and matter. Its vigilance must 
be unremitting; and from these views which we 
jhave of its nature, it must be equally remote from 
partiality and neglect. And, if neither partiality nor 
neglect can apply to Divine justice, it must extend 
to the human body, because the human body is a 
subject of it ; the plain consequence therefore, is, 
that the human body, though consigned to corruption 
for a season, must finally leave the mansions of the 
dead. 

Whether, in accomplishing this great event, God 
shall be pleased to act through the instrumentality 
of means, or without any m^edium, is a question that 
has only a distant connexion with the fact. In either 
case, as his powder is infinite, nothing can yield ob- 
structions ; and the utmost that can be said is, that 
the fact itself may be more or less difficult to com- 
prehend. 

In our present region there are various laws 
prescribed to nature, beyond the boundaries of 
which we dare not pass ; but when the present 
state shall give place unto another, it is natural to 
conceive that the boundaries of our existence will 
be enlarged. God, without all doubt, may give 



380 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

hereafter to compounded, as well as to simple bo- 
dies, such modifications of existence, as human 
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which have 
not entered into the heart of man to conceive. 
And, when that period shall arrive, when the pre- 
sent system of things shall be no more, some laws 
of nature, new to man, which have been concealed 
from eternity, may make their appearance, through 
those revolutions which we are now supposing. 
And by thus unfolding themselves, and acting in 
concert with these laws of nature which have been 
the guides of the human race for nearly six thou- 
sand years ; they may give such a bias to the whole 
system of created beings, as may produce that final 
restitution of things, which we are taught to expect 
both from nature and the word of God. 

Without all doubt, the present laws of nature 
emanate from the Divine mind, and are a transcript 
of himself, Unless we admit this, we can have no 
conception how they could otherwise exist ; and in 
admitting this, as the Divine nature is immutable, 
we can have no conception that these laws, as to 
their essence, can ever be destroyed. They may 
change in a variety of fonns, but their essence will 
still remain the same ; their parts may be accom- 
modated to time, or they may be accommodated 
to eternity ; yet nothing can be inferred from 
thence, that the resurrection is improbable in point 
of fact. Even, assuming this fact as the ground- 
work of our belief, that the laxvs of natiirCy as to 
their essence, never can he ckstroyed, but that 
under mch modrfications as xve cannot eas'ihj con- 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 381 

Qeive, they must exist for ever ; instead of behold- 
ing any thing absurd to follow, we can conceive 
the resurrection to be both a reasonable and highly 
probable fact. And those evidences which have 
been, and which will be adduced, being erected 
upon this foundation, and permitted by the removal 
of all obstructions to operate in all their vigour, 
can hardly fail to produce that conviction which 
results from certainty, when it makes an impression 
on the mind. 

From these new changes, suspensions and addi- 
tions, which the present laws of nature will in all 
probability undergo, what wonders may we not 
expect ! The mind is launched upon an unbounded 
ocean, in which all our calculations are confounded ; 
nature recedes in part from our views, and we are 
wafted to the margin of a future world. The body 
which shall be raised must be removed from those 
impediments which nov/ encumber it ; and we may 
there survey it in its abstracted state. In itself it 
must be material, because none of the essential 
properties of any substance can be lost, while that 
substance remains. All matter is inert ; it there- 
fore can have no tendencies ; and that which has no 
tendencies, and is removed from the reach of all 
foreign influence, is in a station which it must con- 
tinue to preserve. And even, though we suppose 
our future bodies to be formed of such parts, as 
those which compose our present ; yet under these 
circumstances which have been stated, and which 
must be supposed to exist, the body can never 
incline to a state of dissolutione And, therefore. 



582 IDENTITY AKD RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

from the arguments which have been advanced, we 
have a strong presumption, not only that the body- 
will be restored to life, but that those particles of 
which it shall be composed must adhere for ever. 

That the human soul is appointed to continue for 
€ver, is a point deducible from its nature and pro- 
perties ; and therefore %vc can have no conception, 
that any simple essence can perish. And since 
such an essence must be placed beyond the influence 
of mutation and decay ; all essences, of which the 
soul is one, must continue through eternity. But 
these observations are exclusively applicable to 
the human soul, without having any reference to 
the body. 

To form the entire Tncm, not only the soul, but 
the body also must be preserved ; which can easily 
be affected by Almighty power, though the ways 
through which it shall be accomplished are to us at 
present totally unknown. The necessity, therefore, 
of the resurrection of the body arises from the im- 
possibility of continuing man without it. 

If the body of man be necessary to the continii- 
nnce of man, either the human body must be pre- 
served from the power of death, or it must finally 
be delivered from its influence. These are the 
only ways, through which we can presume that 
man can continue for ever. The former of these 
cases is contradicted by fact ; because all must pay 
the debt of nature, and sink alike into the melan- 
choly abodes of death. The doctrine of the resur- 
rection is, therefore, a necessary consequence of the 
compounded nature of man ; and is intimately con- 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 383 

nected with the preservation of his being in a com- 
pounded state, through eternity. 

A being, that is destined to continue for ever, 
whatever be the internal constitution of its nature, 
must, if it be the same, preserve every property 
which is essential to its nature ; it is only this that 
can give it stability of being, and. constitute the 
identity of its nature, whether simple in itself, or 
compounded of parts. If, therefore, we apply this 
doctrine to man, and suppose that out of two dis- 
tinct natures, which are inseparable from him in his 
present state, one shall be entirely lost ; that por- 
tion which survives the loss can only have a partial 
existence ; it is no longer the same that it was 
before, but quite another. It may exist completely 
as a separate spirit, but a separate spirit is not 
man. As man, the existence can be but partial ; 
and in proportion to the loss which it has sustained, 
the real essence must be changed. From these 
considerations it therefore appears, that though the 
soul survives the ravages of death, and is, from the 
peculiarity of its nature, placed beyond the reach 
of dissolution ; the man must be for ever lost, 

A being, which includes in its essence two dis- 
tinct natures, must, if it survive the grave, preserve 
both ; and if either be lost, that which survives can 
no more be the being which was, than that is which 
is lost. It can neither be the same, in essential 
properties^ in essence ^ or in identity of being ; nor 
can we conceive the same being to have any exist- 
ence, while we admit, that one part which was, 
and still is necessary to its being, is for ever de- 



384 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

stroyed. The instant, therefore, that the union be- 
tween matter and spirit is dissolved, the complex 
idea of 7nan must perish ; and unless a resurrection 
of his body take place, man can exist no more. 

Under these views of man, the peculiar modifi- 
cation of his future body can have no connection 
with our thoughts. We inquire not here, whether 
all those particles, which were once vitally united 
to the system, or whether the majority of those 
which were deposited in the grave, shall constitute 
the body hereafter ; these and other modes of pos- 
sible beings are distinct questions. But certain it is, 
that not only the identity of spirit, but the identity 
of man most continue hereafter ; and while we ad- 
mit the body to be a necessary part of man, we 
cannot avoid this conclusion, that the body must 
be again restored to life, and vitally united to the 
spirit : though it may be by ways which have never 
yet entered into human thought. 

That there is in the composition of man both 
matter and spirit, will perhaps admit of little doubt ; 
because these distinct natures may be proved by 
properties which are distinct from one another, and 
peculiar to tliose substances in which they inhere. 
The tangibility of matter will prove, beyond the 
assistance of all external proof, the certainty of its 
existence, and leave no doubt of its reality upon the 
human mind.*^ At the same time, that conscious- 

* The existence of matter is self-evident, and no self-evi- 
dent fact can possibly admit of proof; because all proof, from 
its nature, must be more evident than the thing is in itself, 
which is about to be proved. Dean Bcrkcly was, therefore? 



$ect. Ill] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 385 

ness which every man feels within himself, and 
which cannot possibly result from matter, nor from 
any peculiar modification of it, will as clearly as- 
certain the existence of a spiritual substance, through 
the medium of proof, as tangibility will prove the 
existence of matter. And, therefore, without en- 
tering further into the evidences of these substances, 
I shall conclude, that there must be two distinct na- 
tures in the compound of man. 

In our present inquiry, we ask not in what the 
identity of the body consists, nor do we inquire what 
it is that constitutes the identity of the soul ; but, as^ 
a third and separate point, we ask what it is that con- 
stitutes the identity of man ? These are distinct sub- 
jects, and must therefore be kept asunder. We 
have already turned our thoughts both to matter and 
spirit; and in the preceding paragraph, we have 
taken a survey of man. The soul of man is a 
spiritual substance ; his body is material ; and 
man is a compounded beings formed of these two 
substances united together. 

If then the identity of man consists in the union 

certainly in the right, when he asserted, " that the existence of 
matter could not be proved by argument." But, when from 
thence he attempted to doubt the existence of matter, he fell 
into an absurdity, which, like matter, is self-evident ; — an 
absurdity which cannot v/ell be refuted, because its own inter- 
nal evidence is more forcible than any proofs which can be ad- 
duced. The truth is, self-evidence is the first species of 
proof, and he who would attempt to render it conspicuous by 
argument, acts like him who would light a candle to shew us 
the sun. 

F f f 



586 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

of these distinct natures ; death must destroy the 
man, though the body and soul were both to sur- 
vive in a senarate state. The existence of the 
material part is but the existence of the body, and 
the existence of the soul is but the existence of the 
spirit ; and though these were to exist in a state of 
separation from each other, they would by no 
means prove the existence of the man. To the 
existence of the man both natures are essentially 
necessary ; and these natures must exist in union 
with eeich other, to give existence to mariy and to 
give the idea of that existence to our minds. 

As then, these natures are separated by death, 
if the body rise not again from the dead, the iden- 
tity of man must be for ever lost ; because the 
identity of any compounded being can never con- 
sist in any simnle nature, which is evidently but a 
part of that whole^ from Avhence w^e first obtained 
the idea. And, if the identity of man be lost, he 
can never be the same being, but must be another ; 
for, since idv^^ntity can no more be transferred from 
a whole to a party than it can from one substance to 
another, or from one system of organized matter 
to another ; that part which survives the grave 
cannot be subjected either to punishments or re- 
Vv^ards, for those actions of the present life, wliich 
are evidently performed by ma-n. But, since those 
actions which are performed by man, are evidently 
entitled to the retributions of another life, the iden- 
tity of man must be preserved. And, as this 
identity consists in an union of two distinct natures, 
and these natures arc separated by death; it fol- 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



187 



lows that a reunion must necessarily take place 
again between them ; and therefore the human 
body must rise from the grave. 

If the essence of man consists in the union of 
two natures, rewards and punishments must be 
administered where the essence of man is not ; if 
his soul be made susceptible either of felicity or woe, 
in either of these capacities, while in a state of se- 
paration from the body. But, certain it is, that 
rewards and punishments which are due to man, 
can never be applied with justice where the essence 
of man is not. And, since rewards and punish- 
ments must be administered by justice, and these 
cannot be administered in respect of the actions of 
man, where the essence of man is not ; it follows, 
that the essence of man must be presen«^ed. And, 
as the essence of man, which must be preserved, 
consists in the union of those natures which are se- 
parated by death, these natures must be reunited, 
and the body must experience a resurrection from 
the grave. 

That it is the man, and not his soul, nor his body 
separately considered, that must be the object of 
those rewards and punishments which await us in 
another life, is evident from the nature of those 
actions which are now performed. Neither soul 
nor body could perform a variety of actions, which 
distinguish the man; they result from his com- 
pounded nature ; and in that capacity, must stand 
in relation to the justice of God. An action, per- 
formed by a compoimded beings which stands in re- 



388 IDENTITY AND HESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

lation to justice, can only have a connection with 
justice in that capacity and character. But this 
capacity, in a separate state, the soul does not sus- 
tain ; neither does it appear in this character y du- 
ring that period. On these grounds, neither rewards 
nor punishments can be administered immediately- 
after death; both the capacity and character , to 
which they can apply, have been interrupted by 
death; and a suspension appears, which nothing 
but the resurrection can remove. If, therefore, wc 
deny the resurrection, we annihilate a capacity for 
those rewai'ds and punishments, which we admit to 
be just. And by our admitting the justice of re- 
wai'ds and punishments, while we deny a capacity 
and character for them in the subject; we make 
death to defeat the purposes of justice, and to coun- 
teract the efficacy of that power which is admitted 
to be omnipotent. But, since omnipotent power 
cannot possibly be defeated ; justice can never be 
defrauded through the intervention of death. And 
therefore, though death suspends that capacity and 
character, to which alone rewards and punishments 
can apply, neither capacity nor character can 
finally be destroyed. Omnipotent power must pre- 
vail at last ; and capacity and character must be 
again restored. But, as capacity and character 
can only arise from the union of those natures, which 
are sep^u-ated by death; the final result must be. 
that both natures shall be again united, and there- 
fore the body must rise again. 

If the union of two substances be necessary to 
the essence of any given being, and one of these 



Sect. III.] 6F the human BODY. 389 

substances may be removed, while the essence of that 
being remains entire ; neither of these substances, 
in the union of which the essence of that being was 
presumed to consist can be necessary to its exis- 
tence. For, if we can suppose, that out of two 
substances which bear an equal share in constitu- 
ting its essence and identity, one can be withdrawn, 
while the identity and essence remain uninjured and 
entire ; there can be no real necessity for the con- 
tinuance of the remaining substance. It must fol- 
low, by an inevitable consequence, that neither iden- 
tity nor essence can be any more impaired, by the 
removal of the latter^ than it was by that of the 
former ; because, both have been considered as 
alike necessary to the existence of that essence of 
wliich we speak. It is like the admitting of two 
eternal powers^ which must inevitably annihilate 
each other. If, therefore, both substances can be 
removed, while the essence can remain we must 
suppose, that the essence of being can be separated 
from the being itself, of which it is the essence. To 
admit, therefore, the existance of a being whose es- 
sence consists in the union of two distinct substances, 
and to admit at the same time, that one, and even 
both of these substances may be removed, without 
injuring the essence, which we had previously ad- 
mitted to consist in the union of these substances 
which are now separated, is a species of absurdity, 
for which it is difficult to find an adequate name. 

The essence of being, whether individual or spe- 
cies, must be inseparable from that being ; and no 
longer than the essence continues can we have any 
conception that the same being can continue, with- 



390 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

out involving ourselves in palpable contradictions. 
The removal of any one essential property is the de- 
struction of the essence ; and the same act which 
destroys the essence, must necessarily annihilate the 
being. As, therefore, the essence of man consists 
in the union of his soul and body, the latter of which 
is destroyed by death, the being of man must neces- 
sarily cease ; it can have no further existence than 
while the union of both natures is preserved. The 
separation, therefore, wiiich takes place at death, 
can only be partial in its nature, because the essence 
must continue ; and as the essence must continue, 
the body, which formed a part, must experience a 
resurrection. 

Were it not for the intervention of death, we 
should have no reason to doubt of the continuance 
of the compounded being of man, than we have now 
to doubt of its actual existence. The essence of 
man must therefore consist in this compound while 
here below, and that in which the essence of any 
being consists at any t'lme^ must be, that, in which 
it consists at all times ^ because the essences of be- 
ings can never undergo any change. And as the 
essence of man now consists in the compound of his 
nature, and essence can never undergo any change, 
the compound must continue, because it is necessary 
to the essence, and therefore, though the body dies, 
it must necessarily rise again. 

If human nature were immortal, in its present 
state, no change of essence would be suspected by 
the most sceptical of the human race. The nomi- 
nal essence would have ensured to us the propri- 
ety of that which is real, through all those possible 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 391 

changes which human nature, thus circumstanced, 
could undergo. Why then should we, in the pre- 
sent condition of man, pause at the grave ? Why- 
should we distrust the power, which is infinite ; the 
goodness which is illimitable ; or the justice which 
is immutable ? The power, which gave being, can 
undoubtedly continue it under all possible changes, 
even including death in the catalogue ; either in this 
world, or in another, though his modes of action re- 
main totally unknown. 

That God will continue our existence, may be 
inferred from his attributes and nature; his justice 
demands it ; and neither his goodness nor his mercy 
can withhold what justice demands. Delinquency 
cannot be suffered to go unpunished ; where there 
is a capacity for moral action, there must be a ca- 
pacity for punishments and rewards. Thus the mo- 
ral nature of our existence and of our actions, 
standing in close connexion with justice, ensures a 
day of retribution, whether we have, or have not 
any eye to the essence and compounded nature of 
man. And as a day of retribution is necessarily 
founded upon justice, justice demands the sam& 
substance, the same essence, and the same being. 
The being of man being therefore constituted by the 
union of two distinct substances, both must be pre- 
served ; and the body which was sown in weakness, 
must be raised in power. 

That those actions, which evidently result from 
matter and spirit, not separately considered, but in 
union Avith each other, are of a moral nature, is 
too evident to be denied. Many of these neitter 



592 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII 

matter nor spirit could perform in a separate state. 
And, if these actions, which thus result from a com- 
pounded nature, are capable of sustaining a moral 
relation, they can neither be rewarded nor punished 
in any other nature than that in which they were 
performed. The union of two natures, therefore, 
in actiouy demands the union of two natures in a 
state of retribution ; and we derive from this source 
the most indubitable evidences, of a resurrection of 
the body. 

That there are many such actions as we have 
supposed, will become evident by our adverting to 
fact. A plan of deliberate murder^ when carried 
into execution, is plainly an action which includes 
both mind and body ; while at the same time it is 
a flagrant violation of that justice, which is immu- 
table in its nature. The soul alone could plan^ and 
the body alone could execute the deed. The plan 
alone could not execute the crime, and the execution 
of it could not constitute that deliberation, which 
adds to the turpitude of the offence. Both the hand 
and the heart are therefore implicated in the enor- 
mity, and both participate in guilt. 

Let us now suppose that the body rise not from 
the grave ; we can easily perceive how the soul 
may be punished for planning the dehberate mur- 
der, upon a principle of justice ; but we cannot so 
plainly perceive, how, on the same principle, it can 
be punished for the execution of the deed. The 
plan evidently belonged to the soul, but it is equally 
evident that the execution belonged to the body. 
If, therefore, the body rise not from the dead, either 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY Q93 

the soul must be punished for a deed which it did 
not execute, or the execution of murder must go 
unpunisljed ; but, in admitting either case, we im- 
plicate the justice of God. 

If the soul can be justly punished for an action 
which it did not perform, we shall be at a loss to 
know what constitutes injustice ; and, if it be not 
thus punished, we shall be at a loss to know why 
the real delinquent was suffered to escape. Justice 
must always proportion the punishment to the of- 
fence ; and therefore can never, according to our 
conceptions of equity, punish the soul for an action 
which it did not execute, and which was totally im- 
possible to it. Either, therefore, the execution of 
deliberate murder must go unpunished, or the body 
must rise again from the grave. If the execution of 
deliberate murder go unpunished, justice must re- 
linquish its claims and cease to be justice, which 
we well know is totally impossible, and therefore 
cannot be ; and the inevitable result is, that the body 
must bear its part in a hereafter, and be rescued 
from the grave. 

If murder, both in its design and execution, fall 
not within the cognizance of the justice of God, we 
can have no conception that either rewards or pu- 
nishments can await us beyond the grave. This is 
a crime, which must stand in the front of the black 
catalogue of enormities, and which is evidently un- 
just in all its paits. And, if this crime does not 
excite the notice of Divine justice, nothing besides 
appears of sufficient magnitude, whether we view it 



394 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

as an action of the body, an action of the soul, or 
as one which results from the compounded nature 
of man. But, since it is impossible that such human 
actions can be placed beyond the confines of justice^ 
or be of a nature to which vice and virtue cannot 
apply ; we may rest assured that the execution of 
deliberate murder must be placed within that circle 
to which justice extends ; it must consequently be 
evil in its own nature ; and therefore exposed in all 
its parts to those punishments which justice will 
finally inflict. 

If then, deliberate murder be an evil in its own 
nature, it must be exposed to punishment ; and if 
exposed to punishment, the punishment inflicted 
must be just ; if the punishment be just, it must be 
proportioned to the offence, and must therefore ex- 
tend to that being by whom the offence was com- 
mitted. But, since the offence committed, which 
we have presumed to be deliberate murder, w^as of 
a nature which neither the body nor the soul, sepa- 
rately considered, was capable of committing ; it 
must be an action, which could only arise from the 
compounded state of man, or from the union of 
those two natures, which constituted the person of 
the murderer ; both natures are therefore under the 
claims of justice, because both natures are involved 
in guilt ; both natures must therefore be preserved 
and must live in eternity, and therefore the body 
must come forth from the sleep of death. 

The arguments which apply to murder, will ap- 
ply to all the visible actions of life which are of a 



Sect. III.j OF THE HUMAN BODY. 395 

novel nature ; and furnish us with a new series of 
evidence in favour of the resurrection of the body, 
if traced through all their parts. Though pursued 
in their various branches, they may appear diversi- 
fied in their application ; yet the result will be finally 
the same, because it is evidently founded in truth. 
The progress of justice appears visible, when we 
follow the dictates of our natures ; and we see in 
the case before us the relation which subsists be- 
tween the subject and the retribution of its deeds. 
In cases which are purely mental^ retribution must 
apply exclusively to the soul. But, in those cases 
in which the action arises from the compounded 
nature of man, both natures are evidently implica- 
ted ; and therefore both natures must be the subject 
either of punishment or reward. And, as there are 
many actions which are of moral application, which 
result from the present union of body and soul ; 
both must be preserved for ever, and therefore the 
dead must rise. 

Let us now pause for a moment, and take a sur- 
\ty of those evidences and arguments, which have 
appeared before us. Let us weigh the import, and 
estimate their amount ; and consider how far they 
are .calculated to impress conviction upon the mind. 

The attributes of God, which we call moral, are, 
without all doubt, essential to him. And, whether 
we view his justice, his mercy, his goodness, or his 
love, we must view them as permanent excellencies, 
as they ai'e included in the nature of God. These 
attributes concur to persuade us that the body shall 



396 Identity and resurrection [Chap. vu. 

rise again. The milder attributes of mercy and 
love promise the accomplishment of our wishes and 
our hopes ; and the justice of God, which we have 
proved to be immutable, ensures a hereafter to the 
body with an evidence not to be resisted. 

The moral relation of our actions to some immu- 
table principle of rectitude, demonstrates the cer- 
tainty of a state of retribution; and, from the nature 
of these actions we gather an assurance that the body 
must be renewed in life. The nature of justice 
obliges it to proportion the requital to the deed; 
and to administer punishment to that being which 
incurred the penalty which it inflicts. In this view, 
both natures are involved; and we gather from 
hence an assurance that our bodies must rise again. 

Requitals, which will be administered hereafter, 
require a subject capacitated to receive them ; and 
this capacity can only arise from the union of those 
natures, to which requitals can apply. And, since 
justice cannot be defeated in any of its issues, those 
capacities must be restored: and this restoration 
can only be accomplished by the reanimating of 
that identity of body which apparently moulders 
into dust. 

The essence of man, which is evidently placed in 
the union of two distinct natures, became necessary 
to the performance of many actions; and must 
therefore be equally necessary to those awards which 
are connected with these actions. The reunion of 
these two natures must therefore again take place, 
in order to the preservation of the essence of mati^ 
to whom alone, in most of our actions here, rewards 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 397 

snd punishments can apply. The union of body 
and spirit being therefore necessary to the existence 
of man, by whom the actions were performed, ne- 
<?essarily conducts the mind to the resurrection of 
the body from the abodes of death. 

These general topics of argument aiford us much 
important evidence ; and when followed through all 
their branches, they unfold a commanding force. 
They display an energy, infinitely superior to those 
objections which alone might render the fact ques- 
tionable ; and by overpowering of them with supe- 
rior light, they oblige objections to retire to the 
shade. We have all the evidence unfolded to us 
which perhaps we have any reason to expect from 
God in our present condition ; and to ask for more 
is at once unreasonable and absurd. 

If God had been pleased to communicate cer- 
tainty with more commanding evidences than those 
which he has afforded us, on a subject which in its 
own nature is so abstruse, he must have changed 
either our intellectual powers, or the organization 
of our bodies. But, in either of these cases, we 
should be no longer what we are. The evidence 
which we have is suited to our station in existence. 
In order that we might have more, our condition 
of being must be changed ; and in that case, the 
exalted state of our faculties, by opening new sources 
of difficulty beyond the limits of our present horizon, 
would not permit us to rest satisfied with those very 
evidences which we now solicit. It is not improba- 
ble, that an enlargement of our evidence would 



3¥8 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII, 

tend to lessen our conviction. I confess, this at 
first view appears to be a strange position, but our 
astonishment will diminish when we contemplate 
the foundation on which it rests. 

The same capacities, which would be enlarged to 
receive the influeace of evidence, would be enlarged 
to the perception of difficulties, which are now un- 
known. The obstacles which would probably arise, 
we should even then feel a wish to have obviated, 
and probably with more reason than we now solicit 
superior evidence. Thus difficulties would succeed 
to difficulties, which nothing could remove but that 
death and resurrection, through which God has 
destined us to pass, as the only medium which can 
possibly yield conviction, without being impeded 
by those obstacles which would be inseparable frOm 
any other mode of communicating knowledge. 

It may perhaps be asked ; " Why does not God 
communicate that evidence which shall obviate ob- 
jections, as well as produce convictions of the fact?" 
To this I would answer, that we have much reason 
to believe that the thing itself is morally impossible. 
The organs of vision, which contemplate beauty, are 
the same which behold deformity; and to shut them 
against the latter, w^ould be to destroy their uses in 
the former case. What is thus applicable to the 
eye, is equally applicable to the ear. Harmony and 
discord alike approach it ; and to deprive it of the 
one is to debar it from the other. In this view, 
while we sojourn in this region of error, we may 
conceive that an acuteness of intellect, and a refine- 
ment of organS;, though they miglit tend to enlarge 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 399 

our evidence in favour of the resurrection, as well as 
of other facts ; would enlarge our difficulties also, 
and leave us considerable loser's by our acquisition. 
Thus, an increase of evidence under our present 
circumstances, would finally lead to a proportional 
increase of scepticism, and multiply those difficulties 
which we wish to see removed. 

In our present condition, we are called to walk by 
faith, and not by sight. The light of those eviden- 
ces, by which we are led to the knowledge of facts, 
must therefore be intermingled with many -degrees 
of shade. If all obstacles were removed, conviction 
would arise from positive knowledge ; and no room 
would be left for faith. Thus one great distinction 
between our condition in this world and in another, 
would be totally destroyed ; and we should begin to 
act from a species of evidence, which is reserved for 
us beyond the grave. On the contrar}^ were the 
rational evidence less than it really is, the events 
which we now most cordially believe, would be too 
staggering for our understandings. And, to demand 
our assent to facts, upon the mandate of authority, 
which are astonishing when they really appear before 
us ; would have been a trial too severe for hu- 
man nature^ God has therefore wisely attempered 
the rays of evidence to the constitution of our being; 
he has sufficiently taught us, that we are not called 
upon to believe any thing which contradicts our un- 
derstandings ; but at the same time shewing us how 
disproportionate our powers are, in their present de- 
ranged condition, to those vast realities which we 
cannot fail to behold, he has obliged us through a 



400 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

train of circumstances, to find our final repose in 
faith. Thus then, we see the reason why our evi- 
dence is so scanty here ; and why we expect to find 
it completed hereafter. 

All circumstances duly considered, we must con- 
clude, that God has placed us in a happy medium. 
Our evidences are sufficient to produce conviction, 
and we really are in want of nothing more. Secret 
things belong to God ; and though communicable 
in themselves, to us they are involved in difficulties 
which we cannot penetrate. A situation like ours, 
in which all our faculties are deranged through sin, 
must necessarily be embarrassed by impediments 
which we cannot surmount ; and whether our con- 
dition were more or less exalted, it is highly proba- 
ble that we should suffer from the change. We are 
placed in a region where light and shade are so 
happily intermingled together, that the evidence re- 
sulting from all is suited to our perceptive powers ; 
and calculated to check our presumption without 
discouraging our hopes. The difficulties which en- 
circle us, are convincing proofs that there are heights 
and depths which are unattainable in our present 
state ; and we learn from hence to place a due esti- 
mate upon our faculties, which but for these circum- 
stances, we should assuredly overrate. The ob- 
stacles which are at present insurmountable, teach 
us to look forward into another state of existence, 
for that evidence which is incompatible with our 
present condition, and which therefore we must 
solicit in vain. We have a sufficiency to convince 
us of the fact ; and to obtain u\otc >ve must '* wail 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 401 

the great teacher death, and place our confidence in 
God. 

That moral evil had its beginning subsequent to 
the formation of man, is a truth which both philoso- 
phy and revelation conspire to prove. Of this fact 
we have taken a survey in an early part of this 
volume ; and the reasons which led to that decision 
are there before the reader. From that fact it has 
also been inferred, that moral evil is the cause of 
that evil which wc call naLural ; and, were it not for 
the former, that the latter would have been totally 
unknown. To trace natural evil through all the af- 
flictive calamities of life, would be at once an unne- 
cessary and painful task. We discover it in a va- 
riety of forms ; it reigns through life, and finally 
terminates in death, which closes the black catalogue 
of human woes on this side the grave. 

We have also seen that moral evil must finally be 
done away from all the righteous ; and, by an inevi- 
table consequence, natural evil, which is its off- 
spring, must also expire. And, as natural evil 
must expire, death must be included as its most con- 
spicuous branch ; and as death and the concomi- 
tants of death, must instantly expire, when moral 
evil shall be done away ; the bodies of the righte- 
ous, having nothing to detain them in the grave, 
must come forth in a glorious resurrection. 

But, the arguments which were adduced to prove 

these points, are of partial application; confined 

chiefly to the resurrection of the righteous, from 

whom alone moral evil can be done away. The 

Hhh 



40^ IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

destruction of death, when viewed in a personal 
character, must indeed prevent its future power; 
by whomsoever destroyed, its energy cannot survive 
its being ;. and in that view it may be said, that 
death can have no more dominion over the bodies 
of the wicked, though moral evil be not destroyed. 
But, such arguments are very remote, and claim our 
attention in a secondary way. They are of force^ 
as they apply to the resurrection of the righteous ; 
and contain within them such proofs of the fact aS^ 
arc not easily overcome. 

But, the proofs which have been adduced in this 
chapter, are of a different nature ; and rather apply 
to the bodies of the wicked than to those of the 
good. Divine justice, which is immutable in its 
nature, must have claims which cannot be cancelled, 
without the resurrection of those bodies on which 
its demands are made. On the bodies of the right- 
eous, justice can make no demands. Its claims 
have been fully satisfied by the efficacy of that 
atonement, in which they are interested;, and the 
resurrection of their bodies rather depends upon 
mercy and love than upon the justice of God. 

But, when we add these different sources of ar- 
gument together, and consider the import and appli- 
cation of those proofs which they afford ^ they 
increase the general stock of rational evidence in fa- 
vour of the resurrection, and become convincing in 
every point of view. The arguments of the former 
chapter prove the resurrection of tlie righteous, from 
the certain annihilation of moral evil ; and the resur- 
rection of the wicked arises from the justice of Godo 



Sect. III.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 4©3 

The certainty of rewards and punishments ensures 
to us an hereafter ; these must be administered by 
the hand of impartial justice ; and' this justice en. 
sures to us the continuance of the compounded state 
of man. This compounded nature can only arise from 
a restoration of the body ; and since it is included 
in all of the human race, it is an argument of uni- 
versal application, and proves that the bodies both 
of the righteous and the wicked shall rise again from 
the grave. 

The arguments, thus adduced, extend in their 
different branches to every portion of mankind ; they 
leave no part unsupported by proof, but fill up 
every vacuity which the mind perceives. The an- 
nihilation of moral evil, and its continuance, both 
concur to prove the resurrection of the bodies of 
all : tht firmer^ those of the righteous, and the lat- 
ter, those of the wicked ; and when joined together, 
they form an extensive circle, which is completed in 
all its parts. They extend to the two great divisions 
of mankind ; and take in the inhabitants both of 
felicity and of woe. Nothing more can be ration- 
ally expected from the topics of argument w^hich 
are before us ; and topics more pregnant with evi- 
dence, we have no reason, on so abstruse a subject, 
to expect. The arguments taken in the aggregate, 
render the great event rather more than morally 
certain ; they amount to little less than irresistible 
proof, arising from the sources of moral certainty^ 
analogy^ and fact ; and only fall short of begetting 
that absolute conviction, which nothing but actual 
demonstration can produce. 



404 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 



SECT. IV. 

Observations on several Passages of the Fifteenth 
Chapter of the First Book of Corinthians, in 
which Philosophy and AuHiority are combined 
and considered together. 

That the doctrine of the resurrection is a doctrine 
of the Bible, it would be useless to prove, and ridi- 
culous to deny. To enumerate those places, in 
which this fact is asserted, would be foreign to my 
design ; it would remove me from that region in 
which I have chiefly sought for proof, and oblige 
me to adduce a train of evidence, on which the Di- 
vine authority of the scriptures rests. The chapter, 
however, which is before us, professedly treats of 
this important fact ; and the reasonings which St. 
Paul has used, demand our attention both from the 
authority on which they are founded, and the mas- 
terly arguments which they contain. 

St. Paul, in the commencement of his reasonings, 
adverts to a fact which at that period no one would 
presume to deny, namely the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ, / delivered unto you^ (he observes) firU 
of ally that which I also received, how that Christ 
died for our sins, according to the scriptures, a?id 
that he was buried, and that he rose again the 
third day-, according to the scriptures, (ver. 3, 4.) 
From these declarations he proceeds to state the 
evidences, upon which his assertions were founded ; 
and appeals to those living witnesses which he thus 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 405 

enumerates. After that (namely the resurrection 
of which he had spoken in the preceding verses) he 
was seen of Cephas^ then of the txvelve ; after that 
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, 
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, 
but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen 
of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all 
he was seen of me also, (ver. 5 — 8.) Thus we 
have before us a fact of a most extraordinary na- 
ture, plainly asserted ; and that assertion supported 
by a cloud of witnesses, who could not possibly be 
deceived themselves, and who could feel no interest 
whatever in deceiving others. 

The resurrection of Christ being thus asserted, 
and proved, by upwards of two hundred and fifty 
living witnesses ; St. Paul proceeds from thence to 
argue in favour of the doctrine at large, and in the 
progress of his reasonings applies his arguments to 
the whole of the human race. Hence he says in 
verse the twefth. Now, if Christ be preached, that 
he rose from the dead, how say some among you^ 
that there is no resurrection of the dead? But^ 
if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is 
Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, 
then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is 
vain. Yea and we are found false xvitnesses of 
God, because we have testified of God, that he 
raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be 
that the dead rise not. 

Thus far viiie argument is strictly conclusive. If 
the resurrection be impossible in itself, then the re- 
surrection of Christ, wliich the apostle had asserted 



406 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

as an undubitable fact, must be an evident falsehood ; 
and having in that case laid the foundation of his 
preaching in that event, which has proved a falsehood, 
his preaching was vain, and the faith of those who 
had received his word with gladness was vain also ; 
and consequently, the doctrines which he had 
taught, were nothing better than an imposition upon 
mankind. In addition to these circumstances, we 
are found false witnesses (he observes) before God, 
And the reason is evident, because they had testified 
(in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth verses) of 
God, that he had raised up Christ (and that he 
had been seen by them,) whom it is evident he could 
not have raised up, if so be that the dead rise not. 

For-, if the dead rise not, then is Christ not 
raised ; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is 
vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also 
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished 
(verses sixteenth and eighteenth.) Such are the 
inevitable consequences which must ensue, upon a 
supposition that the resurrection of Christ is false. 
If that great event be nothing but a forgery, then all 
those doctrines which relate to our redemption 
through Jesus Christ, can be nothing more than 
mere delusions. Our hope of happiness, through 
the great atonement, can be nothing more than a 
visionary deception ; and all experimental religion 
can be nothing more than an idle dream. 

The apostle having anticipated these consequen- 
ces, proceeds to repeat his original assertion ; and 
to rely upon those evidences of the fact which he 
had already adduced. Having traced tiie opposite 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 4or 

assertion to its remotest consequences, and pointed 
out the fatal effects which must ensue, if the resurw 
rection of Christ were admitted to have been a false- 
hood, and the doctrine itself to be incredible ; St. 
Paul in verse the twentieth thus proceeds : But, 
now is Christ risen from the dead^ and become the 
first fruits of them that slept. For since by man 
came deaths by man came also the resurrection of 
the dead, For^ as in Adam all die^ even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in 
his own order : Christ the first fruits ; after- 
wards they that are Chris fs at his coming, (verses 
twentieth and twenty-third.) 

That Christ is risen from the dead, is a point 
which will admit of no dispute with any of those 
who believe the bible; and those who do not, would 
not be persuaded though one rose from the dead* 
In verse the twenty-first we are assured, that death 
came by man ; it therefore follows, that though man. 
is a compounded being, and though all compounded 
beings have a tendency to decay, that God must 
have so far provided for the perpetuity of the human 
body, that death would have been prevented from 
taking place, if moral evil had remained totally un- 
known. Hence then arises the probability, that the 
tree of life was planted by God to counteract that 
tendency to dissolution, which seems, in our earthly 
abode, to be interwoven with all material substan- 
ces. And hence also the probabiUty, that, when 
man departed from God, his being denied all access 
to this tree, exposed him to this dissolution which 



408 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII; 

resulted from his condition ; it is therefore in this 
view that we may easily conceive the meaning of the 
apostle, when he tells us that by man came death. 

It may also be furthermore observed, that the 
apostle does not attribute the cause of death either 
to the soul or to the body^ but to the maji. We 
have already proved that this word evidently implies 
the union of two distinct natures ; and as death 
came by man, both natures must have concurred to 
produce it. Both natures were therefore involved 
in guilt, and both natures became amenable to Di- 
vine justice. We may therefore plainly infer from 
the philosophy of the expression before us, that a 
resurrection of the body must take place. 

The same verse which has told us, that by man 
came deaths tells us also that by man came also the 
resurrection of the dead. This part of the expres- 
sion, without all doubt, alludes to the human nature 
of Jesus Christ. By his resurrection, the fact itself 
became visible. The fact overcomes all objections 
that can be raised against it. In the person of 
Christ it ^tood on the evidence of the senses. His 
body was seen, his voice was heard; and those who 
held him by the feet and worshipped him could not 
be deceived. And, as he was perfect man, and his 
body was perfect body^ what was possible to him is 
possible to us as men ; and what has actually been 
fact with his body as to its resurrection, will actually 
be fact to our bodies. Thus the resurrection came 
by man, by the man Christ Jesus, who was made 
in the likeness of sinful flesh ; and as the resurrec- 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 4Q9 

tion became visible %y him, zvho is the Jirst fruits 
of them that slept ^ so his resurrection brought into 
the world the most permanent evidence; not merely 
that the fact was possible and probable, in point of 
theory, but also that it had been accomplished in 
point of fact. That, therefore, which was accom- 
plished in the person of Christ, can still be accom- 
plished by the same power, in subjects of the same 
nature. The whole doctrine must therefore evi- 
dently apply to our bodies, because nothing but the 
body of Christ could possibly taste of death. And' 
that the same povv'er, which raised up Christ from 
the dead, will be exerted in the resurrection of the 
human race, is evident from this plain declaration 
in verse the fifty- second, the dead shall he raised in- 
corruptible^ and we shall he changed. 

Here then we have the fact^ the power ^ and the 
promise. The fact could not deceive, the power 
(pannot be diminis^hed, and the promise cannot lie. 
Ever)^ thing therefore, which fact and power ^ and 
promise can possibly confer, we have before us ; 
and the evidence becomes conclusive, that the bodies 
of mankind must awake from the sleep of death. 

In verse the twenty- sixth, we are toid, that the 
last enemy that shall he destroyed is death. If 
death therefore shall be destroyed, his dominion 
must be at an end. And if his dominion be at an 
end, his captives must be released ; and if his cap- 
tives are released, human nature must forsake the 
grave, and enter upon a state of existence that shall 
never end. If, in this passage we view death as a 

lii 



410 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTIQN [Chap. VIL 

person, the conclusions which I have drawn k^d 
good. But, if we view death as a mere privation of 
lifey or a degraded condition of human nature^ 
then the destruction of death must be the destruc- 
tion of that privation of life^ or of that degraded 
condition of humojn nature; and where the pri- 
vation of life is destroyed, a restoration to Hfe 
must necessarily ensue. And whether we view 
death under the character of a person or not, the 
conclusion is evident ; that the bodies of those who 
have departed must necessarily rise again. 

But, in the midst of these arguments and proofs, 
some man^ perhaps, will say^ how are the dead raised 
up^ and with what body do they come F That every 
one of those numerical particles, which had at any 
time been united to a living body, is not necessary 
to constitute the same body in the resurrection, I 
have attempted to prove in the sixth chapter of this 
work. I have contended that sameness must con- 
tinue in the midst of those changes which our bodies 
undergo ; and that it must consist in something 
which shall survive the shocks and changes both of 
life and death. In the adoption of this sentiment, 
I feel myself sanctioned by the following language 
of St. Paul, to whom I am indebted for most of the 
leading thoughts of that chapter. He observes, in 
verses the thirty-sixth and thirty-eighth. Thou fooly 
that which thou sowest is not quickened except it 
die : and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not 
that body which shall be, but a bare grain, it may 
chance of wheat, or of some other g?'ain, But Cod 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 41 1 

giveth it a body as it hath pleased him^ and to every 
seed his <nvn body. 

That the body which is sown, is not that body 
which shall be, is the plain language of verse the 
thirty- seventh ; we are therefore naturally led to in- 
quire, in what does sameness consist ? The sameness 
ofjigure, of magnitude, and of weight, is foreign 
to the present purpose , these samenesses were per- 
petually shifting through every stage of life, without 
the intermission of a single moment ; and therefore 
we cannot conceive tltat these were the objects which 
the apostle had in view. 

There are however, two points in which this 
sameness may be considered; the first is that of 
the identity of the body, and the second is that of 
the numerical particles, of which the body either is 
or was composed. The former of these must evi- 
dently be preserved, because without this it cannot 
be a resurrection, but must actually be an entirely 
new creation. And since the former must be pre- 
served, and preserved through eternity, we must 
conclude that the sameness of numerical particles 
must be the object which the apostle had in view. 

That this was the object to which he directed our 
thoughts, is evident from the comparisons which he 
has introduced to illustrate his subject. The whole 
process of vegetation will cast light on the doctrine 
before us, and communicate ideas which no lan- 
guage can fully express. The dissolution of the 
parent grain is necessary to the vegetation of that 
germ which is lodged within its confines ; but the 



412 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

old numerical particles are not all called forth to 
form, that grain which shall be. At the same time, 
though God giveth to each a body as it hath pleased 
him^ yet he giveth to every seed his oxvn body. 
Thus succession in existence takes place without 
the destruction of identity, or the introduction of the 
least confusion among those particles of matter 
which receive the change ; both in the production of 
future grain, and in the resurrection of the dead. 

But here an objection may be raised, which St. Paul 
seems to have foreseen, and to have answered by 
anticipation. It may perhaps be said, "if the body 
undergo a change analogous to that through which 
grain passes, that it cannot be the same." But this 
objection can only arise from our ignorance of body 
in the abstract. We know not with any degree of 
certainty, how far change of numerical particles may 
consist with sameness of body. 
. We know not with any precision, how far quan- 
tity is included in our idea of body ; nor can we de- 
termine how far sensible qualities may be removed, 
while the essence remains entire. Of these varia- 
tions St. Paul tells us. That all fiesh is not the same 
fiesh ; but there is one kind of fiesh of men^ another 
fiesh of beasts, another of fishes, another of birds. 
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial^ 
(verses the thirty-ninth and fortieth.) 

Of eternal things we can have no conception but 
by comparison : and that which the apostle has 
made use of, is sufficiently satisfactory to assure us, 
that body may remain after many astonishing chan- 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BOt)Y 413 

ges have passed upon it, of which in our present 
condition we can probably have no conception. 
That there is a specific difference in the flesh of 
animals, we cannot doubt. The jlesh of fishes is 
totally distinct from that of men ; and yet we are 
fully assured, that the denominating qualities still 
remain. In what the real difference actually con- 
sists between these two species of animal substan- 
ces, I take not upon me to determine ; but I leani 
from the comparison this important lesson, that wliat 
changes soever our bodies may undergo, dodi/, ii\ 
all its essential properties, will still continue. And 
though they may be so far changed from what they 
at present are, as the flesh of fishes is different 
from the flesh of men ; so much so that flesh end 
bloody which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 
shall be done away, yet that the human body will 
remain. We see in the comparison, that variations 
in the constitution are consistent with sameness of 
nature; anrl that the bodies which we have, will 
still be bodies, whether we consider them as terres- 
trial or celestial. 

From contemplating those animal substances, 
w^hich are specifically different^ and yet essential ly 
the same ; the apostle proceeds in his compaiison 
by an appeal to the masses of the universe, and the 
distinct sphere of glory which they exhibit. After 
having said, that there are bodies celestial^ and 
bodies terrestrial^ he observes, but the glory of the 
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is 
another. There is one glory of the sun, ajid ano- 
ther glory of the rnoon^ and another glory of tlie 



414 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VH. 

stars, for one star differ eth from another star in glory. 
So also is the resurrection of the dead, (verses the 
fortieth and forty- second.) 

The different degrees of lustre, with which these 
heavenly bodies appear, afford strong presumption 
that they are specifically unlike each other in their 
internal constitutions, as in their magnitudes and 
distances from one another ; some of them are lumi- 
nous, some of them are opaque ; and even those of 
the solar system, from their differences in their a]5- 
proximation to their common centre, demonstrate 
that their densities must be various, and that their 
constitutions must be unlike. . Of the fixed stars 
we know but little ; but, since variety is founded in 
all those works of God which we have any oppor- 
tunity of contemplating, it is unreasonable to sup- 
pose that variety is exclusively confined to the sphere 
which we inhabit. The productions of distant 
worlds may be as different from those with which 
we are acquainted, as the embryo in the womb is 
from the man in a state of maturity ; or as the man 
in a state of maturity is from man in a future state. 

The nature and constitution of the sun must be 
as distinct from the nature and constitution of those 
revolving bodies, which he invigorates and warms, 
as water is from marble ; or as the air we breathe 
is from the ground on which we tread. The dis- 
tinctions which ^ve contemplate, are not founded 
upon hypothetical possibility, but in many cases 
they are in actual existence. They differ from one 
another in constitution and manner of existence ; 
and serve to she\v us what an infinite variety of 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 415 

forms omnipotent power is able to produce out of 
the same materials; or at least out of materials 
which only differ in sensible qualities from one ano- 
ther, while they are ultimately resolvable into one 
common essence. 

Whatever differences may be presumed to exist 
between these heavenly bodies, either in situtation, 
in magnitude, in density, in constitution, or in lustre ; 
it must not be forgotten that in point of essence they 
are still the same. They claim their origin in the 
same common substance ; they still sustain the ge- 
neral appellation of bodies^ though some of them 
are more exalted than others ; and though the glory 
which they emit is different in radiance, as well as 
differently diffused. 

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The 
same body is capable of undergoing changes, equally 
surprising with those variations which we have 
been contemplating in the bodies of the universe. 
The ductility of matter, when acted upon by omni- 
potent power, is so great, that the substance can 
bend to every thing which its essence does not pre- 
clude. And, whether we view it in the distinct spe- 
cies of jlesh^ in bodies celestial, or in bodies terres- 
trial ; we learn from each subject, to lessen our 
astonishment at those changes through which our 
bodies have to pass. 

St. Paul having prepared us for the great event, 
by the enumeration of those facts to which he has 
appealed ; proceeds to mark out the specific differ- 
ence between those bodies which we now have, and 
those which v/e must have hereafter. It is sown in 



416 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vll. 

corruption, it is raised in incor7'uption, it is sown 
hi dishonour, it is raised i?i glory ; it is sown in 
weakness, it is raised in power ; it is sown a na- 
tural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is 
a natural body, and there is a spiritual body^ 
(verses the forty- second and forty-fourth.) 

Through the preceding ilhistrative comparisons, 
which St. Paul had introduced, and the masterly ap- 
plication which he has made, we discover, so far as 
the scantiness of our ideas and the limitation of our 
capacities will afford, the important changes which 
await our bodies beyond the grave. The process 
of veQ:etation is still in view ; and a state of disso- 
lutiqn seems to be that great alembic, through which 
our present bodies are to be refined, in order to that 
perfection which lies in a future state. To ask why 
these thmgs ai^e not more clearly revealed, is only 
to ask why God has not given to us those refined ca- 
pacities, which are inapplicable to our condition ; 
and which, if actually bestowed upon us, would 
make us no longer man. To comprehend, with 
minute exactness, the subject before us, and to form 
conceptions Vviiich ai^e at once accurate and appro- 
priate, may be reserved for us in that state which 
will shortly be our portion, when mortality shall be 
swallowed up in life. 

That our bodies are sown in corruption, is a fiict 
so evident, that it requires no comment. And we 
may naturally conclude, from the expression of 
verse the forty-second, tliat the iucorruption in 
Vvhich our bodies shaU be raised, stands opposed to 
that coiTUDtion in which thev arc said to be sown. 



Sect. IV.J OF THE HUMAN BODY. 4ir 

As therefore corruption implies decay, and a total 
separation of those parts which appear, when depo- 
sited in the earth ; so we may naturally conceive, 
that incorruption implies an exemption from that 
dissolution and decay, which are inseparable from 
all compounded bodies in our present state of ex- 
istence. And, as a separation of all the component 
parts of our bodies, implies either a previous ten- 
dency in the parts themselves, or a certain power in 
some external cause which communicates its im- 
pulses to produce these effects ; so we may natu- 
rally infer, either that this internal tendency shall be 
totally removed, or that the body which shall be 
raised, will be placed beyond the influence of that 
power tlirough which a separation of the parts was 
wrought. 

That the body shall be placed beyond the influ- 
ence of those external causes, which now impel it, 
has been proved in section the sixth, of the sixth 
chapter. And, as our future bodies must be mate- 
rial, and as matter in itself can have no tendencies, 
when placed beyond the reach of all external causes 
either to motion or rest ; no given particle, which 
shall then be placed in our bodies, shall ever remove 
from its station. And therefore the body, though 
composed of separable parts, shall be raised and 
preserved in a state of incorruption. 

On these accounts we may easily conceive, how 
this body, which is sown in dishonour^ shall he raised 
in glory ; and why, though sown in weakness it 
shall be raised in power. Its state of incorruption 

Kkk 



418 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

is a state of glory, to the bodies of the righteous ; 
and perpetuity of life, implies vigour and power, 
which never can decay. A removal from the influ- 
ence of all external causes, must place the particles, 
of which our bodies shall be composed, beyond the 
reach of all constraint ; and even give to each of 
them the power to adhere for ever. Thus weakness 
shall be exchanged for power^ and dishonour for 
glory ; when this corruptible shall have put on in- 
corruption^ and this mortal shall have put on immor- 
tality. 

That there is a natural hody^ and that there is a 
spiritual body, we are expressly told in verse the 
forty- fourth ; but in what they shall specifically 
differ from each other, it is difficult to know. Of a 
spiritual body^ in its strictest sense, we can cer- 
tainly form no accurate, no consistent idea. The 
two words seem inapplicable to each other, and na- 
turally introduce confusion in our thoughts ; I am 
therefore inclined to imagine, that the expression is 
not to be taken in an absolute^ but only in a compa- 
rative sense. * 

That matter can never become spirit, any more 
than spirit can become matter, will admit of no 
question ; because according to those notions which 
we have of these substances, essences can never be 
exchanged with each other, any more than identity 
can be supposed to be transferred from one sub- 
stance to another. A removal of the essence must 
be a destruction of the being ; and a destruction of 
the being must inevitably prevent an exchange of 
nature. In fine, to suppose that matter can become 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 4C9 

spirit, or that spirit can become matter, its original 
nature still remaining, is an evident contradiction, 
and therefore never can be admitted. 

But, though the supposition that matter can be- 
come spirit, and that spirit can become matter, in- 
volves an evident contradiction ; it is not to be pre- 
sumed, that we have any real knowledge of the in- 
ternal essence of either. Many latent qualities may 
be concealed in both substances, which may unfold 
themselves in eternity, and point out an approxima- 
tion to each other, in their sensible qualities, of which 
at present we can have no conception. And per- 
haps through those latent qualities, which have hi- 
therto eluded the researches of philosophy, their 
nominal affinity may be so great, as to leave no 
distant qualities for finite discrimination. 

Whether the nominal essences of substances can 
be so far changed, as to have no specific quality, 
through which we shall be able to distinguish the 
distinct identity of these substances, is a question 
which we feel ourselves incompetent to decide. It 
is, however, not improbable, that something analo- 
gous thereto will be the case. For, since we sow 
not that body which shall be^ the change must be 
amazingly great ; not only in the modification of its 
being, but also in its component parts. And there- 
fore, when the resurrection of the body shall take 
place, all the known properties of matter may retire 
from our future perceptions, which without doubt, 
will be considerably changed, and become as invi- 



420 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

sible and unknown, as those latent properties now 
are, which are included in both matter and spirit. 

The changes which our organs and powers of 
perception must undergo, will without doubt consi- 
derably contribute towards the concealment of those 
sensible qualities, which, I have presumed, will un- 
dergo a change. If then our modes of perception 
shall be changed ; if our bodily organs shall be 
changed ; if our bodies themselves shall be changed, 
as well as all external objects^ who can say what 
effects may not be produced? Sensible qualities, 
without all doubt, will vary; and a variation of 
sensible qualities in matter, in its approaches to- 
wards perfection, must increase its affinity towards 
spirit, and conduct it to those exalted regions, in 
which our contemplations are lost. 

But, notwithstanding those important changes 
which our bodies shall undergo ; they will without 
doubt be chiefly confined to those sensible qualities 
through which the identity of matter is at present 
known. Amidst these changes of our bodies, the 
real essence must be preserved entire ; because our 
bodies will remain the same. The qualities may be 
changed, through the causes which have been men- 
tioned, without affecting the essence of matter, what- 
ever it may be ; its refinement may render it so 
subtle, that to touch it will be difficult, and it may, 
though material, approximate to spirit. 

The germ of future life, which we have already 
considered, dilated in all its parts, and diffused 
through those spaces which now bound the extremi- 
ties of our corporeal being, may contain all the 



Sect. IV.] OP THK HUMAN BODY, 421 

matter which shall survive the grave. If this be 
admitted, its expansion must make it subtle ; and 
it is not improbable that, with an eye to this, St. 
Paul denominated that collection of matter which 
shall adhere to our souls hereafter, a spiritual hody^ 
to which it must in this case approach, through the 
mere exility of its nature. 

In this view, the expression becomes at once in- 
telligible and sublime. The boldness of the figure 
obtains sanction, from the subject to which it is ap- 
plied ; and perhaps the whole compass of language 
will scarcely have afforded an expression, so concise, 
so appropriate to the subject, and so sublime. We 
may therefore conclude with safety, that those bo- 
dies which shall be raised from the dust of death, 
whatever may be the internal constitution of their 
natures, or the whole mass of component parts ; will 
be purged from those gross materials which now 
incorporate with their purer essence. And we may 
also learn from the language of St. Paul, that through 
those refinements which shall take place, the infinite 
distances which now lie between matter and spirit, 
will be so far overcome as the nature of their dis- 
tinct essences will admit : and that matter shall be 
so far changed from its present condition, as to sus- 
tain a new appellation. 

The view, which St. Paul appears to have taken, 
seems to have been this. He places our bodies in 
their present condition, at an inconceivable distance 
from spirit; and considers our future bodies as 
formed of refined materials, and standing between 



422 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIi; 

these vast extremes. In tracing their resemblance^ 
from their sensible qualities, they evidently appear- 
ed to lie at a greater distance from what they are at 
present, than from pure spirit with which they were 
compared. And, in consequence of that resem- 
blance, he selected his language, and denominated 
them spiritual bodies. 

From fact, the apostle proceeds to order; and, 
after having pointed out the changes which shall take 
place, he states the progress of their accomplishment 
in the following words. Howbeit, that is not first 
which is spiritual^ but thdt which is natural ; and af- 
terwards that which is spiritual, (verse the forty- 
sixth. ) 

We learn from this passage, that the stages 
through which we pass are all progressive, from the 
commencement of being to the final consummation 
of that perfection which our bodies shall attain, 
when they shall for ever quit mortality, and become 
comparatively spiritual in their natures. Every 
stage therefore seems necessary in the grand move- 
ment of the whole : they are so many links in the 
chain of individual being, at once dependent and 
connective, and necessary in their several stations to 
the final result of all. The seminal parts are ne- 
cessary to the embryo; the embryo to the perfect 
body ; and the body to that material perfection, 
which shall be attained in another life. The man- 
ner of existence seems as necessary, as the condi- 
tion in which it must appear in each of the interme- 
diate stages. Life commences with the organic and 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 423 

vegetative mode ; vegetative life soon loses itself in 
that which is animal ; animal life subsides at the 
hour of death, and gives place to that life in which 
we shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, but 
in which we shall be as the angels of God. Thus, 
virtual existence shall issue in that which is formal ; 
formal existence shall commence with an animal 
body ; and finally issue in that body which St. Paul 
has denominated spiritual. 

Nor can we conceive, that either of these stages 
or modes of existence can be suspended or changed. 
The progress is established by laws, which are im- 
mutable ; and the order cannot be inverted. The 
parts in this progressive arrangement, are not only 
necessary in themselves to the perfection of being ; 
but are essentially necessary in that particular sta- 
tion in which they are fixed. The establishment is 
fixed by the laws, which regulate and govern na- 
ture ; and these laws must be repealed, before we 
can suppose the order of this process to be inverted. 
That^ therefore, is not first which is spiritual, but 
that Tvhich is natural ; and afterwards that which is 
spiritual. 

To this general principle, there seems, however, 
to be one remarkable exception, which is introduced 
in verse the fifty-first. Behold, I show you a mys- 
tery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 
changed ; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at 
the last trump. 

That the exception to the general principle here 
spoken of, is an exemption from death, is evident, 



424 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII, 

from the period to which the passage alludes ; it is 
at the last trump. And, though the apostle intro- 
duces the first person in the plural number ; yet 
we cannot suppose that as an individual he had ^ny 
intention to include himself in the number of those, 
who should be exempted from the stroke of death. 
When, therefore, he says ive shall not all sleeps but 
we shall all be changed, he must be supposed to 
allude to the body of Christians at large, in all ages 
of the world ; or perhaps to the human race, whom 
he considers to be one family ; and the exception 
must in that, or any view, apply to those who should 
be alive in the latest ages of the world, "when the 
swarms shall issue, and the hive shall bum*" 

But, though this remarkable exception shall take 
place, through which the last generation of the hu- 
man race shall be exempted from the stroke of death, 
yet the change itself, which death produces, will not 
be dispensed with. For, though all shall not sleep, 
yet, all shall be changed. The change seems abso- 
lutely necessary, by what means soever it may be 
produced, to the production of that spiritual body^ 
which we have already considered. The change 
therefore, through which these last individuals of 
mankind may pass, must be, in its nature, equiva- 
lent to that which death, by a much slower and more 
gradual process, shall produce upon the gi'eat mass 
of the human race. It is a change, through which 
mortality shall be put off: and tlirough which that 
extraneous matter, which shall be incorporated with 
those radical parts which are destined for eternity, 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 425 

shall be thrown aside ; that the germ or radical 
parts, separated from the exuvia, may be renewed 
in immortal vigour, to begin a mode of being which 
shall never end. 

That this important change is in itself progressive, 
according to the general principle^ it is natural to 
conceive both from reason and revelation ; and the 
inequalities of those periods, during which the body 
shall repose in the grave, we have endeavoured to 
account for in the third section of the fifth chapter. 
In that section I have considered that no given pe- 
riod of duration is absolutely necessary for our con- 
tinuance in the grave. The periods will be as vai'i- 
ous as the individuals ; and yet the bodies of all 
will be as ready to quit their gloomy mansion, as 
soon as the trumpet shall utter its awful sound. 

That these sentiments are congenial with those of 
St. Paul, is evident from verse the ffty-Jirst, which 
we now have under consideration. But inequalities 
of time do not bound the apostle's views. He pro- 
ceeds farther, and tells us, that though all shall be 
changed, all shall not taste of death. It is true, he 
views it as an astonishing circumstance ; and ushers 
it into view as a deviation from general principles, 
which we cannot easily comprehend. He tells us that 
it is a mystery, and as such it evidently appears. At 
the same time, it is a mystery that he has shewed 
us in point of fact, though the circumstances of its 
accomplishment be perfectly concealed. We see 
with sufficient plainness that it must be so ; but what 

Lll 



426 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VU. 

the nature of that process may be, is not dearly re- 
vealed. 

Of this, however, we are assured, that the change 
shall be instantaneous, instead of progressive ; and 
perhaps one short moment will accomplish that 
work, which on some human bodies had been in a 
state of progression for more than five thousand 
years. In a moment^ in the ttoinkling of an eye, 
at the last trump, it shall be effected; and the 
change which death administers through the medium 
of corruption, shall be accomplished without his 
aid. 

With an eye to the process of nature, this point 
has been already considered in the sixth section of 
the sixth chapter. The length of that period through 
which these bodies had passed, or in which they 
had lain in a seminal state, precluded a length of 
time in their final stage. But, philosophy could 
only assure us, that this stage must necessarily be 
short. The change which appeared absolutely ne- 
cessary, required a period of duration in order to 
its completion ; and as nothing but the common 
process appeared necessary to its completion, phi- 
losophy directed our attention to the grave. St. 
Paul, however, instructed in a better school, has pe- 
netrated the cloud which hovered over our re- 
searches, and told us in a few words how the mighty 
work shall be performed. He has revealed to us 
that secret which God had revealed to him ; and 
told us that important mystery which must otherwise 
liave been concealed. It is therefore from him we 



Sect. IV.] ®F THE HUMAN BODY. 427 

learn, that we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 
clmngedy in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye^ 
at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
shall be changed, (verse the fifty -second.) 

Hence then we learn from the verse last quoted, 
that in one awful moment, the sound of the trumpet, 
the change of the living, and the resurrection of 
the dead to a state of incorruptibility, shall take 
place. Human nature must then undergo its final 
renovation, and enter upon the commencement of 
that state of existence, which shall know nothing 
either of intermission, of change, or of termination. 
Of those bodies, which had mouldered in the grave, 
and passed through the process of corruption ; and 
those which had sustained the changes which sup- 
planted death, no difference will probably hereafter 
remain. In both cases, mortality is swallowed up 
of life, and every vestige of corruption is done 
away. No distinction can therefore remain between 
those bodies, which are totally delivered from its in- 
fluence ; and those which are exempted from it by- 
passing through a mysterious change. In both 
cases, the germ of the future body must be preserved 
from destruction ; and whether it collect around it 
any new particles or not, it will, without all doubt, 
put forth those latent powers which now are in an 
embryo state ; while it will be dilated through all its 
parts, and be assimilated to that mode of existence 
which spiritual substances enjoy. 

But, amidst these changes which our bodies v/iU 
sustain, there is one of peculiar import, which St. 



428 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

Paul has noticed in verse the fiftieth, in these words, 
Now this I say unto you^ brethren, that flesh nnd 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither 
doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

We have, perhaps, included in this expression, 
the most astonishing alteration in the human body, 
that we can possibly conceive. It includes a change, 
which removes those parts that are necessary to our 
present state of existence ; and concurs to place our 
bodies in that astonishing light, which the preceding 
paragraphs have been written to elucidate and con- 
firm. 

That the dead shall be raised incorruptible , is 
the plain language of the fifty- second verse ; and it 
is evident that this verse must refer to the body ; 
because nothing can be raised but that which had 
been previously sown ; and that which had been 
sown could include nothing but the material part. 
If then the body shall rise again, and those of the 
righteous shall enter into the joy of their Lord ; and 
if flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God ; the consequence is inevitable, that flesh and 
blood can form no part of those bodies which shall 
survive the grave. 

Of those human bodies which shall be destitute 
of flesh and blood, we can form no adequate idea. 
The bones, were they to remain, would not be a hu- 
man body ; they would form but an unpleasant 
spectacle, and cany with them evident marks of 
mortality, if they were endued with life. 

But, as flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- 
dom of God, nor corruption inherit incorruption ; 



Sect. IV.J ©F THE HUMAN BODY. 429 

we have no more reason to suppose that the bones 
which we possess will survive the grave, than we have 
to expect that our future bodies will be formed of 
flesh and blood. The change must therefore be 
radical throughout our present system ; whether it 
be effected by death, or by that instantaneous revo- 
lution, which shall be accomplished without his de- 
legated power. 

The associating and dispersing atoms which con- 
stitute our flesh and blood, must on this account be 
considered as superfluous matter; when we have 
our eye fixed on that body which shall live, when 
death shall be destroyed. These atoms, without all 
doubt, are essentially necessary to our present mode 
of existence, and we can no more conceive how our 
bodies can exist, as bodies without flesh and blood, 
than we can conceive how matter can exist without 
gravitation, or without any of its sensible qualities. 

But, since our bodies must survive the ravages of 
death, and exist in a state of separation from flesh 
and blood, we cannot avoid concluding, that jiesh 
and blood are not necessary to the existence of the 
body in the abstract. Body, therefore, must even 
now in its refined and philosophical sense, consist 
in something different from Jlesh and blood. That 
which is necessary to the existence of any being 
never can be removed while that being remains. 

But, since identity cannot be transferred, and 
since a period will arrive when those bodies, which 
we now have, shall be raised again and continue, 
in point of identity, the same for ever, without the 
assistance of flesh and blood ; the identity of our 



430 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

bodies must now consist in something, witli which 
flesh and blood have only a distant connexion. 

Whatever is necessary to the abstract existence 
of the same body under the same circumstances for 
ever. The reverse would involve some palpable 
contradictions. Since, therefore, a period will ar- 
rive, when those bodies which we now have, shall 
commence and continue a state of existence in a 
region where flesh and blood caimot enter; the con- 
clusion is certain, that flesh and blood can form no 
part of our present bodies, when we abstract them 
from the local circumstances of time^ and placCy 
and modification of substance. 

In our present condition and situation, flesh and 
blood form a necessary part of our bodies; they 
form indeed the most essential part of the concrete, 
whether we look upon that concrete with an eye 
either to magnitude or utility. And indeed, were 
we to fix our stand within the circle of time, and 
cast no look beyond the grave; we can form no 
other conception of flesh and blood, than that they 
are essential parts of our bodies, and therefore in- 
separable from them ; and that the loss of flesh and 
blood must necessarily be the total loss of their 
being. 

But, when we step beyond the boundaries of time, 
and take our stand in eternity ; when we take with 
us the declarations of the apostle, that the dead 
^hall be raised incorruptible^ and that Jiesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; the the- 
ory of our last paragraph stands inverted, and we 
form new opinions of bodi/^ and of Jiesh and blood. 



Sect. IV-i OF THE HUMAN BODY. 431 

And, when to this we add, that our bodies shall 
exist hereafter in a state of incorruption^ in power^ 
in glori/y and even become comparatively spiritual ; 
instead of considering flesh and blood in the chai*ac- 
ter of essential parts, we can only view them as 
necessary appendages of being, confined to those 
local abodes which they have forsaken for ever. 

As, therefore, jiesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God, nor corruption inherit incorrup- 
tion ; those corruptible and visible parts, which we 
behold, must disappear, either through the process 
of the grave, or of that change which shall supersede 
its necessity. The real body, which shall be here- 
after, must therefore at present be concealed be- 
neath those exuviae which shall be done away in 
death. It seems reserved for a future state of exist- 
ence ; while those parts which will appear as ap- 
pendages from eternity, when we look back on time, 
seem destined to perform the functions of the pre- 
sent life. 

In what then can we presume the identity of our 
future, as well as present, bodies to be lodged, but 
in that radical stamen, or germ, which we have al- 
ready considered and supposed ? it is a principle, 
which will admit of no dispute ; that safneness can 
never he transferred ; it is equally certain, that our 
bodies shall rise again; and it is equally certain, 
that jiesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God, The final consequence is, therefore, certain 
also, that when we view our bodies in eternity, and 
look back on the stations which they occupied, and 
the materials with which they were incorporated ; 



432 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

we shall be able to distinguish them from those extra- 
neous particles, with which they were united ; and 
from this view we can now conclude, that flesh and 
blood can no more form any real part of our bodies, 
in the abstract, than they can inherit the kingdom of 
God. 

The final result of the preceding reasoning, which 
St. Paul has adduced in favour of the resurrection, 
and of those changes through which our bodies must 
pass, in order to the attainment of that felicity and 
perfection which are placed beyond the reach of 
death ; is summed up in verse the thirty-third. In 
this verse he has assured us, that this corruptible 
must put on incorruption^ and this mortal must put on 
immortality. 

In this point of immortality all those changes, 
which we have been contemplating, happily meet 
together ; and those private dissertations, which the 
great apostle had introduced in the intermediate 
stages of his arguments aiid reasonings, were all 
conducive to this general and important fact. The 
intervening obstacles have been removed by an ap- 
peal to that power whidli is infinite, or obviated by 
a happy anticipation. The process of nature has 
taught us, that difficulties are no arguments against 
certainty ; and that the wonders which we expect, 
are not greater than those which we ha^^e already 
seen. 

That this corruption should put on incorruption, 
St. Paul had told us in effect in many preceding 
parts of this chapter ; and many of his observations 
tended to shew, how the great event should be 



Sfect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY 4^3 

brought to pass. But, in this place, his sentiments 
are delivered in express and unequivocal terms. 
The whole passage must necessarily apply to the 
bod}^ because that alone is mortal, of all that be- 
longs to man. If then this corruptible shall put on 
incoiTuption, and this mortal must put on immorta- 
lity, the fact itself is placed beyond all dispute, whe- 
ther the process of its accomplishment be compre- 
hensible or not. It was sufficient to shew, that the 
fact itself contained nothing within it repugnant 
either to philosophy or reason ; but the arguments 
adduced have gone much further; they have pro- 
ved a congeniality with the established principles of 
both, and proceeded so far as to convince the un- 
prejudiced part of mankind, that they have no rea- 
son to imagine it a thing incredible that God should 
raise the dead. 

The credibility of an abstruse fact, adds dignity 
to that authority which pronounces it certain; 
without increasing the authenticity of any evidence 
wliich may be deemed divine. Authority which is 
divine needs no foreign support ; it stands on its 
own intrinsic excellence, and commands assent ; 
and in this view, the apparent incredibility of the 
fact is no argument against the certainty of it, 
while we are assured that the authority is from God. 
But the incredibility of the fact, may render the 
authority questionable; and in proportion as the 
persuasion of its incredibility gains strength in the 
mind, these doubts wall increase, because nothing 
tlvit includes a contradiction can possibly come 
M m m 



434 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. Vlll 

from God. The arguments, therefore, which St. 
Paul condescended to use in confirmation of the 
credibility of that fact, which in point of certainty- 
he referred to divine power, added dignity to that 
authority by which he spoke. The same illustra- 
tions which tended to render the fact itself credible, 
tended also to remove all suspicions from that 
authority, on which the certainty of the fact ulti- 
mately stood. Hence then, rational and philoso- 
phical arguments, when applied to subjects of Di- 
vine revelation, though they cannot add to the au- 
thenticity of the fact, yet tend to remove all suspi- 
cions from that authority, on which revelation ob- 
tains our assent. 

Thus far the elucidative arguments and illustrative 
examples which have been adduced, are of impor- 
tance to those whose belief is unshaken in the reve- 
lation which we have from God. But, when from 
them we turn to those who deny all authority, and 
place their only evidences of certainty in the credi- 
bility and probability of the fact itself, every argu- 
ment which can remove even a shadow of a doubt 
must be of the last importance. The appeals which 
St. Paul has made to the process of vegetation, 
to the different species of flesh, and the various 
glories which the heavenly bodies exhibit to our 
senses ; are proofs, that, to convince the sadducean 
generations of men, in all ages of the world, was 
one object which he had in view. When, therefore, 
we join these two parts of his method together, and 
combine argument with authority ; when we con- 
sider the former as applying to those, who deny the 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 435 

resuirection, and the latter to those who admit it ; 
and when to this we add the dignity which that 
confers on this^ the whole forms a system of evi- 
dence, in which philosophy and authority combine 
to produce conviction. 

From the positive declaration of verse the fifty- 
third, which we have been considering, the same in- 
spired author proceeds, in verse the fifty-fourth, to 
tell us what those immediate effects are which shall 
succeed the great events which he had previously 
described. So^ when this corruptible shall have 
put on incorruptioiiy and this mortal shall have 
put on immortality^ then shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written^ Death is swallowed up i?t 
victory. 

The saying that is written was delivered in pro- 
phecy more than seven hundred and fifty years 
prior to this appeal which the apostle makes. It 
may be found in Isaiah, the twenty-fifth and 
eighth ; and to be convinced that it alluded to the 
resurrection of the body from the grave, we need 
only advert to the application of it, which St. Paul 
has made. The words of Isaiah are, He will 
swallow up death in victory ; and the Lord God 
$hall wipe away tears from off all faces ; and the 
rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all 
the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. 

It is, however, but of little consequence to us, 
whether these words which predict the destruction 
of death, originated with Isaiah or St. Paul. We 
are more deeply interested in the issue than the ori- 



436 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VII. 

gin ; and it is to that we must turn our thoughts, 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death; 
.and the victory which shall be obtained over this 
gloomy conqueror, must finally liberate the human 
race. The death of the captor must manumit the 
captives, and set the prisoners free. Death, when 
destroyed, can be followed by no successor. The 
power will admit of no delegation ; when once sub- 
dued, it is for ever lost; and those who shall be res- 
cued from his gloomy prison can die no more. 

It is of no consequence to the argument which 
St. Paul has used, whether we view death personi- 
fied in the character of a tyrant, as a positive 
power, or as the mere negation of life* In either 
view, the result is conspicuous, and we are conduct- 
ed to a point, in which these different views must 
meet at last. If death be a tyrant, he must be 
subdued. If death be a positive power, a victory 
must be obtained over it. And if death be nothing 
more than the mere negation of life, it must be 
overcome. In either, the conquest of death is cer- 
tain ; and the point in w^hich these different views 
will meet at last, must be the final restoration of hu- 
man nature from the tomb to life. 

The last of these views, in which we have just con- 
templated death, appears to be that which best ac^ 
cords with our philosophical inquiries, and our 
rational conceptions ; and, as a mere negation of life 
and power, it seems most natural to consider death. 
As a person, he can only have a poetical exist- 
ence, which may furnish an allusion, or give per- 
fection to a rhetorical figure. Yet, if we view him 



Sect. IV.] OF THE HUMAN BODY. 437 

even in this capacity, he must be slain. Under the 
idea of positive power ^ it is impossible that we can 
have any accurate conceptions of death. A power 
which is positive, must exist before it can produce 
any effects; otherwise the effect must be coeval with 
its cause, which is at once impossible and absurd. 
And, as all causes must exist prior to their effects, if 
death be a positive power, it can have no necessary 
connexion with those effects which are presumed to 
result from it. And if there can be no necessary con- 
nexion between death and those effects which result 
from it, death may exist though nothing die, which 
is an absurdity that cannot well be exceeded. I 
think, therefore, that the conclusion Is certain, that 
death cannot be positive power. As, therefore, 
death cannot be personal^ nor be justly contemplated 
under the idea of positive power ; it can be seen in 
no other light than that of the negation of life. 

If death be the negation of life^ and be destroyed, 
the negation of life must be done away ; and if the 
negation of life be done away, life must be restored, 
and the body must rise again. If the negation of 
life be done away, it can onl)»be done away from 
those who are, or who shall be, in a state of actual 
death ; because it is in these regions alone, that the 
negation of life resides. And, if from them who are 
in a state of actual death, the negatipn of life shall be 
removed, as there can be no medium between posi- 
tive existence and the negation of life, nothing ap- 
peal's which can prevent the resurrection of the dead. 

That death, whatever may be its nature, shall be 



438 IDENTITY AND RESURRECTION [Chap. VIL 

destroyed, is the plain language of scripture ; (verse 
the twenty- sixth,) and that it shall be swallowed up 
in victory, is the plain language of verse the fifty* 
fourth. As, then, the premises are unquestionable, 
and the adductions w^hich have been made are too 
evident to be denied ; we are led by guides which 
will not deceive us, to the same common conclusion 
which we have repeatedly drawn ; that those who 
sleep in the dust of the earth must awake to immor- 
tal life. 

That the conquest which death obtains, and shall 
continue to obtain, till the final consummation of all 
things, could only apply to the material part of man, 
is too obvious to require a moment's proof. The 
immaterial part of man, being spiritual in its nature, 
is placed beyond the reach of death. The remo- 
val of death can therefore only apply to the body, 
because it is over this alone that death extends its 
sway. The victory which shall be obtained over - 
death, must be a removal of that absence of \ife\ 
under which the human body lies; the removal 
must issue in the reverse ; the reverse is life ; and 
therefore the body mtist live again. 

As the body must rise again, and join its immate- 
rial partner, both, in a state of indissoluble union, 
must enter into a state either of punishments or re- 
wards, which must continue for ever. It is the 
dread of future punishment, arising from a con- 
sciousness of guilt, that arms death with all its 
terrors, and makes it an awful thing to die. Hence 
says die apostle, the sting of death is sin^ and the 



Sect. IV.] OF TH£ HUMAN BODY. 439 

strength of sin is the law, but thanks Be to God 
which giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, 

The Redeemer of the world through the efficacy 
of his atonement, is the foundation of all our hopes. 
It is through his merit that the sting of death is 
drawn ; and the strength of sin is obviated, by the 
expiation which he has made. Through an interest 
in him, we contemplate the resurrection of our bo- 
dies from the grave with calmness and tranquillity, 
as an object of our wishes rather than of our fears. 
Though the grave is a gloomy passage, it is but a 
subterraneous road to bliss. It is with an eye to 
that glory which shall be revealed hereafter, that 
St. Paul concludes the chapter which we have in 
part considered, with the wholesome and important 
advice, which he has seriously addressed to all true 
believers : Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye 
stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord ; forasmuch as ye know thot 
your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 



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